The Legend of Sherwood Forest
by onlyslightly
Summary: Blaine is an infamous, philanthropic outlaw. Kurt is a minor nobleman. When their paths cross in Sherwood forest can they put their differences aside and find something they never even dared hope for? Or will pride, doubt, and secrets keep them apart? A Robin Hood Klaine AU.
1. Chapter 1

Author's note: Hi! This is the first fanfiction story I've published. I'm trying to improve so constructive criticism is very much appreciated! Hope you enjoy my cheesy little tale, sorry about major historical inaccuracies. Story rated M for some violence (no gore), language, and suggested sexual content. Check chapters for specific violence warnings.

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For weeks Kurt had felt like someone was watching him. It was small things: a prickling on the back of his neck when alone in his chamber, a flurry of movement when he turned his face to a window, the unaccountable snap of a twig as he hunted alone in the ancient forest that surrounded his family's estate. And once, most mysterious of all, a strange song sung by a beautiful voice, carried to him on the wind in the dead of night, so acheingly lovely he was certain by morning he had only dreamt of it.

Kurt told no one of his lingering sensation of being watched. Living at his family's ancient seat, the isolated Hummel Estate, didn't leave him with many options. Except for the occasional visiting Lord or knight it was just him and his father and their incorrigible servant, Puck. He had no desire to worry his father with thoughts of people wandering about the property; or, more likely, Kurt's deteriorating mental state. And he had absolutely no desire to discuss the matter with Puck, whose advice veered towards non-sensical far more often than being actually helpful.

Puck was busy at the moment anyway, overturning the manor house in preparation for their expected and highly esteemed guests. Some knight Finn Hudson or other, who Kurt remembered only vaguely meeting at some tournament, and his widowed mother. Kurt was looking forward to the guests as a welcome distraction to his current uneasy mood, hoping a few extra voices in the manor would drive out the unsettling thoughts of being watched.

The morning of the guest's planned arrival Kurt took to the woods with his clunky cross bow in search of deer. The ancient Sherwood Forest always served to invigorate him and it was here, among the massive trees, the constant signs of new life that came with spring, the dense green of life everywhere you looked; that the memory of his departed mother shone more brightly than anywhere else. He could hear her laughter in the soft trickle of the stream, the rustle of her dress in the soft wind- the same way Kurt would hear her come into his room late at night, to kiss him goodnight. There was a stillness, even in the dense life of the forest, that could never be replicated, and it was here that Kurt felt most at peace.

Hunting was more of an excuse to spend time in the forest than anything else, but Kurt wouldn't miss the opportunity for a nice dinner of venison steak if the chance arose (Puck was worthless at shooting, he never put in enough practice). As he picked his way carefully along the uneven forest floor he kept his ears open for any sounds of animal movement, his eyes straining for signs of stirring among the trees.

A deer, startled by his footfalls, streaked at a run to Kurt's right. He swiveled wildly with his ready crossbow and let fly the short arrow. He wasn't a bad shot, but it always came down to chance with a moving deer and the less than satisfactory aim capabilities of his crossbow (it was a good quality bow, the best he could afford that incorporated all the new technology without any useless gadgetry). A warm burst of success rose in his chest when he heard the deer fall with a soft thump, today at least, luck was on his side.

Kurt approached the copse of thickly growing trees the deer had disappeared into during its last efforts of escape. It was darker inside, the canopy of trees obliviating the sun save for a few columns of slanting sunshine. Kurt hauled himself through a narrow space between two trees. Half stumbling on a protruding root, he grabbed a low branch to steady himself before scanning the copse for the deer.

His body went tense and rigid with what he saw. Standing over the dead deer was a man who seemed to have grown right out of the woods. He was small but strong, with ropey muscles circling along his bare arms. His face, below a crown of dark curls woven with leaves, was streaked with dirt and sweat, but he seemed perfectly at ease. His chest was crossed with a quiver strap and he held an enormous longbow in one hand.

Kurt inhaled sharply but the man just stood, perfectly still, watching Kurt with bright hazel eyes. Kurt met his eyes and for a second feeling flared at the back of his neck, the now familiar sensation of being watched washed over him again, and he knew without a doubt that he hadn't imagined any of it, this man from the forest had been watching him. He felt a prickle of anger and fear at the thought, and something else too, something deeper and unexplained, something that spoke of questions, and curiosity, and, thought he didn't even dare think it, wanting.

The forest man smiled, a bright joyous smile, it crinkled his eyes and transformed his face, sending a renewed shudder through Kurt's already thudding heart. And then he was gone, as quickly and silently as a fox. Kurt caught a last blurry glimpse of black hair, the figure of a man melting into the trees, and thought he heard the sound of laughter, a light pleasant sound, but by then, it could just as easily have been the wind.

It took Kurt longer than usual to pick his way back to the manor house. Every innocent sound in the forest around him sent images of the strange man across his vision and caused his heart to speed up. He was restless and couldn't shake the sense of agitation that the brief meeting had landed him with.

Once the man had departed and Kurt had been able to shake himself to action, Kurt examined the deer to find a foreign-looking arrow protruding from the deer's right side. The stranger's arrow had brought the deer down, and yet he had been content to leave it. It was the smart thing for him to do, after all it was private property and the Hummel's had right to any game on the property. But it left an uneasy feeling in Kurt's gut, as if the stranger might resurface at any moment and demand payment for his kill.

Kurt was relieved to reach the manor house and see Puck running around feverishly amidst the guests and their servants. He leaned his quiver against the manor house, wanting to hide the mismatched longbow arrow from view, before realizing he was being paranoid. He had encountered a poacher in the woods that had run off as soon as a he saw Kurt, nothing extraordinary about that. But Kurt had no desire to explain why he had felt unable to leave the arrow back in the woods, or discuss the strange feeling he had experienced when their eyes met.

Kurt darted upstairs to change before playing the host. Discarding his bloody, sweaty work clothes for his best set of clothes-the ones he had bought on his last trip to the capital, he hoped the Hudson's wouldn't notice the style was several years old. Now that his father was week and couldn't travel Kurt couldn't bring himself to leave him for long trips that weren't strictly necessary.

Kurt need not have worried. The Hudson's were kind, unassuming people (in Kurt's opinion the best sort of nobility) but lacked any knowledge of fashion sense. Finn dressed in comfortable looking gear more befitting a servant than a knight and Kurt found himself making mental notes on how Lady Carol Hudson could improve her figure with a few simple dress adjustments before remembering that it would be discourteous to instruct the lady how to dress.

The Hummels and Hudsons enjoyed a lively dinner that night. Good natured Finn was full of bumbling tournament tales and a little beside himself with a new audience to hear them. Kurt was more than pleased when Carol and his dad withdrew to whisper by themselves near the fire. Kurt Laughed a little in spite of himself when he had to convince Finn not to bother them. And warmed even more to Finn when comprehension slowly dawned on his open-book face and after a moment's thought nodded in approval of the coupling.

Kurt smiled in earnest then. The thought of his father, happily settled with Carol warmed his heart and sent a sappy floating warmth through his whole body. Carol and Burt had both been widowed for years, Kurt recalled his fathers animated face when the visit had originally been planned, the happy stories from Burt's youth when his and Carol's family had wintered together for several years in a nobleman's estate in the south, long before he had fallen head of heals in love with Kurt's mother.

As Kurt excused himself for the night and readied himself for sleep he thought that this visit was exactly what he needed to leave his troubled thoughts of darting, watching eyes and prickling unease far behind him. Troubling thoughts were banished in the cheery light of guests and lively conversation, dismissed in the face of his father's obvious happiness.

Kurt went to sleep with a smile on his face. But he wasn't to get rid of the image of the man in the forest quite so easily. His sleep was disrupted by fractured images; glimpses of hazel eyes hidden behind leaves, strong arms pulling a bow, gripping the branches of a tree, smiling lips and a row of glittering white teeth, a callused tanned hand covering his own. And once a high tinkling laugh that turned into a strange mournful song that might have been nothing more than the sounds of the nighttime forest outside his window.

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Author's note: And thanks for reading! More coming shortly. God bless.


	2. Chapter 2

Author's note: And here's chapter two. Sorry I'm not exactly sure how to give violence warnings but I'll try my best.

WARNING: some sexual harassment/attempted rape (not graphic), depictions of violence involving arrows

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Despite his dream-filled sleep Kurt awoke more refreshed than he had felt in weeks. His good mood was buoyed by the sound of laughter coming from downstairs- Burt and Carol's cheerful chatter carrying through the house, and the glimpse of a gorgeous bright summer day outside his window. The woods looked more inviting than ever, sun filtering, golden, through the tree branches until the very heart of the forest seemed to glow with light, every minuscule part of that great complex web of life illuminated in its own right.

Kurt dressed quickly in plain clothes and joined the others in the dining room. Feeling particularly gracious with everyone, Kurt compliment Carol on her dress and told Burt he was looking particularly well. Beaming at the pleasant company, Kurt was seriously tempted to spend the day in their warm company, but the sun and the forest outside was calling his name. He was itching to feel the dewey ground beneath his feet, the worn wood of his crossbow under his hand.

Kurt explained his intentions for the day and headed out into the forest, immediately certain he had made the right decision. The weather was perfect, Kurt wandered the forest amicably, picking his way along the stream that served as an excellent guide when heading south. Losing track of time and letting his mind drift, he wondered vaguely why he had felt so unsettled by the strange man's appearance in the woods yesterday, it seemed like such a small thing now.

Kurt found a deer run and followed it far into the heart of the forest where the trees grew closer together- the sun hidden beyond a massive canopy of trees. With a growing sense of unease Kurt loaded his crossbow and kept it carefully aimed in front of him, holding his breath, waiting for any sign of game. Kurt felt the hairs on the back of his neck rise, the overwhelming stillness suddenly suffocating him.

A twig snapped behind him and Kurt spun wildly, instinctively releasing an arrow in panic as he turned. Kurt's quick breaths sounded loud as a scream in his ears amongst the still quiet, but there was nothing there. Letting out a breath of relief and berating himself for getting so worked up over nothing, Kurt started walking again.

Arms encircled Kurt from behind, pinning his arms to his chest. Kurt screamed and squirmed desperate to get away from his unseen assailant as panic rose inside him. But the man held on with ease despite Kurt's struggles. Another man emerged from the woods ripping the crossbow from Kurt's grasp, examining it casually, like this was something he did everyday. Kurt felt himself losing control, feeling like helpless prey, trapped. He had to calm down, he had to think.

The man holding him cupped his hand across Kurt's mouth stifling his screams. Kurt tried to shake it off, disgusted, the man reeked of body odor, his hand felt hot and sweaty across his face. The man put his face down next to Kurt's ear, Kurt closed his eyes, trying to turn away but the man kept his head still with the hand over his mouth.

"Whats a pretty boy like you doing off in the forest by yourself, huh?"

Kurt felt a rising sense of hysteria and fought it down. Closing his eyes he focused on taking deep breaths through his nose. The memory of his small knife, tucked in the pocket of his boot, gave him a boost of confidence. He could get out of this, he just had to stay calm.

Kurt bit through the man's hand as hard as he could. Taking advantage of the man's momentary distraction to stomp on his foot with the heel of his boot. The man let out twin howls of pain, and Kurt ducked out of his grasp, spinning on the spot and sending his fist into his attackers face. Flesh collided with a thump and pain flared across Kurt's knuckles, but the man stood his ground.

Kurt made a reach for his knife but felt himself lifted bodily from the ground and thrown against a tree. Kurt gave a cry as he collided, hard, his head snapping back so hard against the unforgiving bark he saw stars. The second man had discarded Kurt's crossbow to come to his companions aid. This man was smaller than his companion with yellow teeth and watery yellow eyes, he kept Kurt pinned to the tree with his forearm across Kurt's shoulders, absorbing Kurt's kicks like they were nothing. "Easy there bud, don't make trouble for yourself."

The first man shoved the second one away. "You little shit," he said at Kurt, brandishing his fist, Kurt noted with satisfaction the blood trickling from the man's palm, right before he punched Kurt, hard. Light blazed across Kurt's vision as pain bloomed under his eye, and he fought to keep sight of his surroundings. The man's fist collided again and again to his stomach, his ribs, his face again. Kurt felt his knees buckling and fought to stay standing, digging his fingers into the bark of the tree behind him for support.

"Easy, Pete" said Yellow Eyes, and Pete turned momentarily to face his companion. Kurt wasted no time falling to his knees snapping his leg to the side and pulling out his knife. He plunged it into the first bit of flesh he could find, which happened to be Pete's ample calf. Kurt jumped to his feet with grim satisfaction as Pete limped out of range, howling and moaning.

Kurt's satisfaction didn't last long. Yellow Eyes was already on him, knocking the knife from Kurt's hand with a heavy blow to his wrist. He produced a rope from his belt and had Kurt's wrists bound before Kurt could register what was happening. He shoved Kurt unceremoniously and he lost his balance, thudding to the ground, unable to break his fall with his arms. Kurt struggled to sit, flopping like fish on the ground, face planted in the grass. A prickling was building behind his eyes, Kurt stilled, succumbing to the angry-frustrated tears, losing all hope for a fast escape.

Kurt grew suddenly aware of how much pain he was in, his face ached along with the contact points on his ribs and stomach, the back of his head throbbed with alarming intensity. A bone-weary exhaustion consumed him as he was dragged to his feet, his shoulders smarting with the strain of his hands being tied behind his back. Yellow Eyes pried a gold ring off Kurt's finger. Holding it up to the sun to examine it while Kurt turned slowly to face him. A fresh wave of anger washed over Kurt, _no not that_. "Please, don't take it, it belonged to my mother, please.." but his pleas might have fallen on deaf ears for all the reaction he got.

"Come on Pete, we should go, someone might have heard, he doesn't have anything else, the others'll be waiting."

"I don't know about that, you hardly even looked."

Pete stood in front of Kurt, his leg now bandaged messily, his eyes furious. He patted Kurt down roughly, prodding, pinching, Kurt tried to twist away revolted by his touch. Pete's face turned greedy, his hand passed over Kurt's ass squeezing cruelly, laughing when Kurt yelped, humiliation and fear burning Kurt's face red.

"Seriously Pete? Not again. We don't have time for this." Yellow Eyes said already resigned, _he actually has the nerve to sound annoyed_, Kurt thought furiously through his haze of panic.

"You've been quite the disappointment pretty boy, I think its only fair I get a little something for my trouble."

Time seemed to slow for Kurt. Pete was at his waist, unbuckling his belt, Kurt yelled, a continuous babble, "No! no! please, no, please..." shoved to the ground, pinned on his stomach, rough hands tugging at the waistband of his pants.

Kurt was oblivious to the whistle of an arrow and the sick thump as it drove home in the shoulder of Yellow Eyes. He was, however, fully aware of Pete's scream of pain, inhuman, as he scrabbled back away from Kurt. Kurt rolled onto his back to see the point of an arrow sticking out the front of Pete's shoulder. Pete met Kurt's eyes, wide with shock, for a moment before returning his gaze to the foreign object sticking through him and promptly passing out.

Kurt let out a shuddering breath of relief, relief like he had never felt in his life, his body still shaking from shock, tears running freely down his face, he sat stunned. Someone knelt beside him and he jerked away instinctively. "Its ok, I'm just going to cut your bonds."

Kurt heard cords ripping as a knife sliced rope, freeing his hands. He rubbed his wrists, and circled his shoulders, dragging a hand across his face and letting out another shuddering breath "God. Thank you. How-"

His rescuer knelt in front of him, watching him with barely masked concern in his hazel eyes. "-You." Kurt stopped abruptly. It was him. His face was clean, his hair free of leaves, but it was definitely him, the same light eyes, the dark curly hair, the man from the forest. "You've been watching me."

He smiled, a genuinely heart-warming smile that lit up his face and crinkled up his eyes. "Yeah, about that..."

Yellow Eyes gave a pitiful moan from where he sat slumped against a tree, an arrow in his shoulder, and a shudder of dread ran through Kurt.

"Oh God," he looked at the forest man "I just remembered, something he said, about there being others"

A whistling sound and Kurt shoved the stranger over on his side, laying on top of him, shielding his body, as an arrow flew directly through the space his head had occupied a second ago.

"And now we run." The stranger said scrambling to his feet, Kurt ignored the man's offered hand, somehow noticing in the adrenaline filled chaos that the stranger tried to pass off the hand proffering on pretext of brushing his hands off on his pants.

Kurt turned to follow him into the woods then remembered his mother's ring. He turned on his heel and backtracked to Yellow Eyes, searching the feebly stirring man for the precious ring "Fucking bastard where is it, WHERE IS IT?"

The stranger was beside him. "We need to move, like now."

Kurt spotted it at last, lying beside the wounded man, he shoved it on his finger, grabbing his crossbow and quiver as an afterthought, God, he hadn't even remembered them taking the quiver off him, the stranger grabbed his wrist, pulling him into a run, following a path through the woods that only he could see.

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Author's note: Thanks so much for reading, next few chapters are much calmer. God bless.


	3. Chapter 3

Kurt stumbled blindly over the rough ground, dragged along in the stranger's wake, his hand locked firmly around Kurt's thin wrist, fingers digging into his skin. With adrenaline the only thing keeping him going, Kurt's legs felt unsteady under him, each breath sending a rasping pain through his throat and lungs as he fought to keep up with the stranger in front of him, who seemed only slightly winded from the prolonged running.

Finally he stopped. "I think we lost them. No one knows theses woods like I do." Kurt collapsed on the ground, breathing fast. Now that he could think about something other than putting one foot in front of the other a wave of thoughts- all questions and fear, cascaded through his mind, each fighting for attention. Finally he settled on one of the simpler questions.

"Who are you?" the stranger had sat beside him, flushed from exhaustion, sweat running from his hair. Kurt couldn't help noticing, through his sheen of exhaustion, the way his hair stuck to his neck in perfect curls. The stranger had that look of concern in his eyes again. Kurt wished he would be considerate enough to hide it, he could take care of himself.

"Are you hurt?" he asked ignoring Kurt's question

"Clearly" Kurt answered gesturing to his face where he could feel the swelling around his eye. The back of his head was still throbbing, his whole body aching. "But I'm fine. Now answer the question"

The stranger nodded. "My name is Blaine."

Kurt gave a look of surprise at the casual use of his Christian name, but shrugged his shoulders, guessing the normal rules didn't apply when you were running for you life from vicious outlaws.

"Kurt."

"I know." Kurt stared. "I've been watching you, remember?" Blaine said.

"I do, perhaps you'd care to explain that." Kurt said, chafed by Blaine's easy manner in the face of his invasion of privacy. Kurt had not forgotten the plaguing sense of being watched that had bothered him for weeks.

"Its simple really, you're a Hummel, you own a piece of highly productive farm land right outside of Nottingham. Its a piece of land that holds a particular interest for me. I was developing a plan for how to, um, best approach you with an offer to purchase it," he finished lamely.

Kurt arched a brow at Blaine's poor explanation. "Oh well thats perfectly acceptable then, you were just sneaking around my house because you wanted buy some of my land. Tell me, do you make a living of sneaking about the woods twenty-four/seven." Kurt hoped he sounded as outraged as he felt. But the truth was a very small part of him, as much as he hated to admit it, and felt sick for even thinking it, was a bit disappointed that this handsome, mysterious stranger's interest in him had been solely because of a piece of land he happened to own.

"Yes."

"And you find that an acceptable course for you life to take?"

"I do."

"What's your family name?"

"I don't have one."

"You're a peasant?"

"You could say that."

"An outlaw then."

"In a way." Blaine was incorrigible, being specifically evasive, a mischievous smile crinkling his eyes the whole time. He was definitely an outlaw then, no one would choose to wander about the woods all the time if they didn't have to.

"An outlaw that puts their life at risk to save someone with no guarantee of reward-"

"It does warrant a special title doesn't it?"

"-but then spends weeks stalking a noble family's home developing a scheme to acquire a piece of land that has been in their family for hundreds of years?"

"Yes well thats kind of what I do, 'rob from the rich to give to the poor,' my admirers say so succinctly, champion for the innocent," he elbowed Kurt teasingly "protector of the week."

"I'm not week."

"Mmmm, you're really not much of a fighter" Blaine said lightly.

"I would have been fine without you."

"Didn't really look that way"

"Fuck you, I had a plan."

"Right."

"Right." Kurt said awkwardly, suddenly aware that their conversation had taken a childish turn. "Listen, um, back there, thanks for giving me a hand. I, I really appreciate it. It was very good of you, to help, I mean."

Blaine smiled, warm and knowing, a secret dancing behind his eyes "You too, with the whole arrow-flying-at-my-head-thing, you have great reflexes, luckily for me."

Suddenly Kurt was laughing, shaking-hysterical laughing, no clue what he was laughing at exactly but knowing it felt great, releasing the tension that had kept his body wrapped taut after the incident.

"Shit. That was the most terrifying thing I've ever experienced." Kurt got out when he was finally able to draw normal breaths, he was thankful to see Blaine laughing along with him, a soft, warm laugh that Kurt couldn't help finding endearing. Blaine hooked an arm around Kurt's shoulders and squeezed once, reassuringly, before drawing back. But Kurt didn't mind, the familiarity seemed somehow right after the trauma of the day.

They sat in comfortable silence for a while before. "Listen Kurt, I know this probably isn't what you want to hear, but I think you should spend a few days at camp before you head home, we'll be safe there, I just don't want to risk running into them again, give them a few days to clear out."

Kurt thought of Burt, how worried he would be when Kurt failed to come home, he might even try going out into the woods on his own to look for him.

"I can't do that. My father, he can't be alone, he'll worry too much, he'll do something stupid."

"It's your decision. But we could always send a message to your father. Thad is almost as fast as I am and won't draw any attention."

Part of Kurt wanted nothing more than to return to the safety of his house and never think about this day again, another part was so terrified at the very notion of possibly crossing paths with the vicious outlaws that he would gladly wait a month to make the journey, and another part, a part he'd rather not think about, was too curious about this mysterious man who made his home in the forest to give up on unlocking his secrets so soon.

Kurt nodded, "perhaps thats best." He needed to be smart about this anyway. He could be willing to admit that he was out of his element a bit here, just a bit.

"Do you have a lot of experience with this sort of thing?"

"What, saving noble men from violent attacks in the woods? Not so much really." Kurt chose to ignore the thinly veiled jibe.

"Then how do you know its not safe to go back right now?"

"Because I do have a lot of experience with living in these woods and I've had a fair number of run-ins with the likes of those people," he said, his face turning into a scowl as he spoke. Kurt reasoned that that was qualification enough that Blaine knew what he was talking about. After all, Kurt had no reason not to trust him, he had just risked his life to help him escape, he wouldn't do that unless he genuinely wanted to help, surely. Now that Kurt was finally getting some answers he found he couldn't stop the flow of questions.

"How long have you lived in the forest?"

"A couple of years."

"A couple of years, but you can't be older than I am, you can't be more than eighteen."

"Really? I think I'm older than you."

"Doubtful." Kurt shook his head "Anyway you must have been really young, what happened? What did you do to become an outlaw?"

A muscle in Blaine's jaw twitched. "I didn't _do _anything. I made a choice, I had good reason." Blaine said shortly.

"Fine. We don't have to talk about it."

"So you're coming with me then?" Blaine asked, Kurt picking up on the layer of barely concealed hopefulness in Blaine's voice.

"Yes," Kurt sighed "I'm coming with you," he said, hoping he wouldn't regret it.

Blaine started walking without a word and Kurt followed, keeping the silence.

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AN: Thanks so much for reading! God bless.


	4. Chapter 4

AN: Sorry about the slow update NaNoWriMo is kicking my butt. A very special thank you to reviewers youngandobsessed and Orange-Coyote you make my heart happy so this one's for you :) Now here, have some more cheesiness.

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They walked for another hour, deeper into the heart of the forest, the massive, close growing trees still blocking much of the sunlight, before Blaine stopped.

"Hold up, Kurt, you gotta put this on before we go any further," Blaine said untying the scarf around his neck.

"I have to wear your kerchief?

Blaine laughed. "No, you have to wear a blindfold."

Kurt folded his arms outraged. "You are joking."

"Its not that I don't trust you, really, but the camp is a secret, thats kind of what makes it safe."

"Well I'm not letting you blindfold me, so you're gonna have to get over that idea."

"Well we're not going any further till you put it on, so _you're_ going to have to get over that idea."

Kurt glared at him furiously, determined. Unfortunately Blaine looked equally determined. He took a seat on the ground after a minute, pulling out an arrow to examine its fletchings, "not a problem, I can wait."

Kurt took a seat across from him, sighing, abandoning his standoffish tone. "Listen, I wouldn't even think about telling anyone about your secret camp thing, I promise. I just don't want to be blindfolded, I've had enough of feeling helpless today, enough of feeing helpless for a lifetime."

Kurt hadn't really meant to say that last bit, he looked at Blaine, worried he would make a joke about it. But Blaine looked serious, a frown twisting his lips, a crease between his brows.

He stood up quickly, his voice sounding slightly rough "Its fine, forget about it." and he pushed on like nothing had happened.

A few minutes later they turned at a massive white oak, walking onto a narrow path that had been hidden from view on the more well worn path.

Kurt decided to fill the slightly awkward silence. "Who else lives at the camp?"

"Well we all come and go. Wes and David are kind of my right hand men, they've been committed to the cause the longest with me. Some outlaws we've managed to convert to the straight and narrow, pass through a lot, Thad, Jeff, Nick. We host anyone that has need though, a safe haven for innocents hunted by the law, people that can't pay their taxes, travelers, outcasts. Its been getting worse lately, Nottingham is having all kinds of trouble. The sheriff grows crazier by the day, blinded by rage and the possibility of power, he was ruthless before, now he's a full on sadist.

"You know, I've heard of someone like you before, some philanthropic troublemaker in Nottingham. Some Robin Hood or something, have you heard of him?"

Blaine laughed and gave Kurt a mischievous smile, eyes sparkling with all those secrets. "Yes I've heard of him."

"What aren't you telling me?"

Blaine tried to look innocent but he was much too pleased with himself, it was written all over his face.

"Its you, isn't it? You're Robin Hood."

"Thats what they call me, in the village, yes. But my friends call me Blaine."

Now it was Kurt's turn to laugh. Even miles away from Nottingham he had heard of Robin Hood, robbing the richest families and government officials, just to give it away to the poor and live in poverty himself. People called him a hero, a scoundrel, and everything in between. Kurt had't allied himself with just any outlaw, he'd allied himself with the most most wanted man in Nottingham.

"Well I'm glad you find it so amusing" Blaine said.

Before Kurt had time to say anything else, Blaine stopped and said "we're here." He had stopped before an ordinary stretch of rock outcroppings, their sides covered in overgrown vines and leaves. Blaine studied the wall of stone for a moment before placing his hands behind part of the vine and pulling back. A heavily camouflaged wooden structure of a door was uncovered as Blaine pulled it away from its living neighbors, revealing a short passageway through the rocks.

"Pain in the ass, this thing, the camouflage has to be redone every few days in the summer to keep it looking realistic." Blaine said before ducking through the makeshift door.

Kurt followed through the narrow crevice of rock that was now revealed and gasped coming through the other side. The nook opened out to reveal a good sized clearing in the trees, ringed on one side with the closely outcropped rocks, tall enough that no one would bother climbing them, and surrounded everywhere else by massive trees, the gaps between them so narrow in most cases, only a child could squeeze through. They were in a tight copse of trees in a valley of sorts, Kurt could see land rising up beyond the trees.

The clearing was mostly empty in the center, supplies and pans were piled off to the side next to a small supply of weapons, and a jumble of clothes. A roasting spit sat over a dry fire pit. The clearing could sleep perhaps a dozen people in relative comfort, but right now it was empty. The place gave an aura of comfortable ease despite the fact that it was just a clearing in the forest.

"Home sweet home." Blaine said and Kurt was surprised when he caught Blaine looking at him, like he wanted to see Kurt's reaction. Kurt managed a smile, it was certainly a far cry from the comfort of his manor home. All the same Kurt couldn't help feeling a sense of admiration for the way Blaine lived, there was something simple, freeing, and enticingly masculine, about making your own rules. Kurt was reminded of the ancient men that had first made their way on this island, living off the land.

"Everyone's gone, someone was here this morning though," Blaine said kicking at the ashes in the fire pit. "Wes and David like to sneak into the village whenever they get the chance, I'm pretty sure they have girls holed up there."

Kurt laughed, the illusion of safety in the natural fort after his exhausting day was making him feel heady, "And where's your girl? Don't tell me you have her hidden in a cave somewhere."

Blaine quirked a knowing smile that seemed somehow pouty at the same time, looking at Kurt, one eye slightly squinted, like he was looking for some tell in Kurt's expression.

"What?" Kurt asked surprised when his voice came out unaccountably breathy, Blaine's face suddenly felt much too close.

"I'm starving, should be something in here." Blaine said as he tugged a rope out from under a rock, freeing a parcel from the tree overhead so it landed at his feet. Withdrawing a handful of nuts and dried meat and passing Kurt a leather flask of water that was sitting on a stone.

Kurt gulped down the water, suddenly aware of how thirsty he was. Trading the flask for the food Blaine offered he tried to make himself comfortable on the ground.

Blaine sat beside him, throwing back his whole handful of food in one gulp, smiling like a goofy idiot through his mouthful of food when Kurt gave him a doubtful look. A look that turned into a laugh when Blaine coughed and had to clear his throat a few times, looking sheepish as Kurt thumped him liberally on the back.

Blaine grew serious, watching Kurt, his hand reaching up to hover close to Kurt's face near his swollen eye. "You should clean this, it looks awful." Blaine said softly.

"Its nothing."

"Theres a creek really close, I'll show you, we need to get more water anyway." Blaine said motioning to a pile of water skins.

"Right. Ok." Kurt said starting to sling the straps of empty flasks over his back, eager to be helpful.

Blaine appeared at his side a moment later, a slim, compact knife, similar to the one Kurt had lost in his hand. "Here. Take it."

"I couldn't."

"You might need it." Kurt took it with a sigh, bending towards his boot before thinking better of it and sticking it in his belt.

Blaine was sizing up Kurt's crossbow. "Do you ever hit anything with this?" Blaine asked picking it up to examine it closer.

"As matter of fact, yes. I'm something of an excellent shot."

Blaine's brows shot up. "Excellent?"

Kurt gave a nod daring Blaine to contradict him.

"This technology isn't even very accurate." Blaine said, concentration creasing his forehead as he examined the mechanisms closer.

"Well it works well for me," Kurt said, grabbing it a little too roughly out of Blaine's hand. It was somehow irking, having Blaine criticize his bow, like he was criticizing Kurt instead of just his weapon. "I've taken down plenty of game over the years."

"Like that deer the other day?" Blaine said with a smirk.

"Well if you wouldn't have startled it I would have-"

"-oh if _I _wouldn't have startled it?"

"Why did you run away anyway?"

"Didn't want to blow my cover."

Blaine picked up his longbow from where he had left it at the camp's entrance. "Now this is a real weapon, only way to go."

"Its a bit cumbersome isn't it? Not very powerful without the mechanical pull."

"Excellent range, the shooting rate doesn't even compare, much more accurate and powerful than that clunky contraption, and capable of twice the power. Enough power to knock a man from his horse."

Kurt swallowed loudly despite himself, he had the distinct impression Blaine was speaking from experience.

"I'll teach you how to use it, if you want. Might come in useful."

Kurt considered. "Yeah, that would be great actually." Where else was he going to learn to a shoot a longbow?

Kurt followed Blaine out of the natural fort, back to the narrow path-which a short distance later opened out onto the banks of a creek, Kurt thought it might more accurately be called a river. It was fairly wide and deep, but slow moving enough that there was no need to worry about the current. They walked along its bank a bit further until they reached a small falls-small enough to step over easily, where the water was pooling even deeper just before it spilled over the rocks.

While Blaine began filling water skins, Kurt pulled off his kerchief and knelt carefully at the bank, dipping it in the stream so it was soaked, and rubbing it gingerly across where the skin under his eye had split, mopping up dried blood and puss. It didn't hurt too badly anymore, just a dull throbbing, so Kurt figured it wasn't bad. "There. Am a pretty enough to be seen in public now?" Kurt joked.

Blaine appraised him carefully. "Not bad. Are you hurt any where else?"

"Just some bruises. I did hit the back of my head pretty hard though, do you mind taking a look?" Kurt felt a little silly for asking, but you really couldn't be too careful, the last thing he needed was some wound that wouldn't heal because he had never cleaned it.

"Its not a problem," Blaine said, scooting over so he knelt behind where Kurt was sitting cross legged. He raked his fingers gently through Kurt's short hair, searching out the lump, until Kurt winced.

"There's just a little blood here, but its not too swollen, hand me your kerchief." Blaine said keeping his hand on Kurt's head. Kurt did, feeling impossibly foolish as Blaine gently wiped the blood from his head and out of his hair.

"Thanks," Kurt said, his face red as he avoided Blaine's gaze and reached for a water skin to start filling, the memory of Blaine's fingers in his hair very much in his thoughts.

* * *

Thanks so very much for reading and God bless. Up next, plot! maybe.


	5. Chapter 5

AN: I realized the chapter break was a little awkward for this part so theres some strange breaks in here kind of maybe. Warning for this chapter: hunting and mention of animal blood (I don't know if that needs to be a warning but just to be safe).

Thanks to everyone who is following!

* * *

The sun shone without hindrance over the stream, making the air hot and stuffy, sweat was already beading across Kurt's forehead, and he itched to take his heavy shirt off. No sooner had the thought entered his mind than Blaine was tugging his own shirt over his head. Kurt couldn't help staring, absurdly fascinated by the ripple of muscles across his back and shoulders from the motion of pulling his shirt off.

He managed to snap himself out of it when Blaine turned to face him. But that didn't mean he couldn't help stealing liberal glances at Blaine's bared chest; taking in the details of Blaine's narrow waist, tapering to proportionally broad shoulders, his flat stomach- ridged slightly with muscle, a massive, gnarled scar cutting across his side just below his ribs.

The water skins were nearly all filled before Blaine caught Kurt's eye, mid-glance, and smirked lavishly, Kurt ducking his head.

"What?" Blaine asked.

"Umm, nothing. Lovely spot isn't it?" Kurt said trying to pass off the staring as examining the scenery. It worked, kind of, Blaine beamed, looking around himself as if to confirm that it was indeed a beautiful spot.

"I thought you would like it, its one of my favorites." Blaine said. Kurt reddened a little at that, the thought of Blaine thinking about what sort of things Kurt would or wouldn't like when he knew next to nothing about Blaine was doing strange things in the vicinity of his chest. At least until he remembered that that was only because Blaine had been essentially stalking him for several weeks. With renewed gall Kurt opened his mouth to revive his complaint about the invasion to his privacy, when he realized that Blaine had gathered up his water skins and bow and was poised in front of Kurt, a dangerous grin transforming his features.

"Tell me you're not too tired to have a little fun tonight." Blaine said

Kurt had the sense to close his mouth, _but really what do you say to that?, _before squaring his shoulders and cocking his head a little to the side "I'm up for it, I could do with a little fun, what did you have in mind?"

Blaine's eyes glinted mischievously "You'll just have to wait and see."

* * *

"But first, hunting." Blaine said, still hunched in front of Kurt, his quiver on over his shirt, bow in hand, ready to go.

"Ok." Kurt agreed, it was after all, what he had originally intended to do with his day, he tried to think of hunting with Blaine as an added bonus from hunting alone. Kurt piled his filled flasks alongside Blaine's on the creek bank and readied his own weapon.

"Now this I've gotta see, the amazing sharp shooter Kurt Hummel at work."

Kurt cocked a brow at Blaine. "Are you afraid you can't out shoot me? Because I have a feeling you won't be able to handle my beating you."

Blaine smiled knowingly. "Oh I have no doubt I can outshoot you."

"Confident aren't we?" Kurt said mockingly "why don't you let the shooting speak for itself."

"Gladly," Blaine said, promptly nocking an arrow and barely glancing away from Kurt's face as he aimed up in the trees, letting loose an arrow, the echoing twang of the string followed quickly by the soft thud of a bird landing at Blaine's feet, an impossibly vexing smile shifting his features. Kurt squinted his eyes, sizing up his new found competition, he may have just gotten himself in over his head.

* * *

It wasn't that Kurt was a bad shot. It was just that Blaine was much, much better, inhumanly better.

"How do you do it?" Kurt said, amazed, an hour or so later. Blaine already had a half dozen squirrels and rabbits at his belt, Kurt toting around two plump rabbits of his own. But Blaine absolutely never missed, seeming to shoot animals feet before they materialized out of the brush.

"Just practice," Blaine said, shrugging his shoulders in an attempt at humility that turned into his usual cocky grin when Kurt scowled at him.

"I've never seen anything like it."

"But surely you've heard that the amazing Robin Hood is incomparable when it comes to skill with the bow and arrow." Blaine said in a joking voice that fell a little flat.

"Actually no," Kurt said. Blaine looked distinctly disappointed that his prowess with the bow had gotten lost in the shuffle of his infamous reputation and Kurt was seized with an absurd desire to assuage his doubts. "But I'm sure its just because I live so far away, I'm sure its a much different story near Nottingham, certainly."

Blaine looked thoughtful for a moment, then his eyes darted to the trees and he brought a finger to his lips for silence. Kurt turned his eyes in the direction Blaine was looking and caught sight of a beautiful doe, nibbling at something on the ground, its ears twitching.

Blaine pulled back his bow, taking aim. The doe raised its head, alert to a sound Kurt and Blaine couldn't hear, or maybe instinctively aware of its own impending doom. Blaine loosed the arrow, the snap of bow string sending a tremendous noise as it collided with his wrist guard.

Blood bloomed across the animal's chest as she struggled momentarily-legs moving disconnected with no unified goal of movement, then falling heavily, still. Blaine knelt by the animal, withdrawing his arrow, cleaning it on the grass and replacing it in his quiver. Withdrawing a long hunting knife from his pocket and a thick square of material knotted around his quiver strap, he proceeded to gut the deer, stacking the usable meet on the material.

Kurt watched, inserting his own opinion on how to best gut a deer, which Blaine, stubborn, ignored.

"I have done this before." Kurt said after his suggestion on how to remove the liver was ignored.

"I have my method, you don't mess with the method."

"Well its going to take forever the way you're doing it."

"Oh, I didn't realize we were on a schedule. What, exactly, are you in a hurry to go do?"

"Well pardon me for wanting to introduce a little efficiency to your life Mr.-" Kurt faltered for a second realizing he didn't know his real family name "-Hood. Next time I will try to remember that my opinion is neither valued, nor desired."

"Then maybe you will remember to close your mouth once in a while." Blaine said with his eyes on his work.

"Asshole." Kurt muttered under his breath, noticing that Blaine's shoulders were shaking with silent laughter.

Back at camp, with the rest of their kills gutted and organized on cloths of their own and most of the blood cleaned off their hands Kurt asked, "what do we you want with all this meat anyway?"

"You'll see." _Great, more secrecy._

Blaine started a fire and got some meat cooking over the flames while Kurt sat back to relax. It was getting on towards late afternoon now. Kurt couldn't believe that only this morning he had had breakfast with his father and the Hudsons, it seemed like a lifetime ago.

"Blaine?"

"mmm?" he answered examining the meat he was turning on the spit.

"Did you grow up around here."

"Yes." he seemed hesitant to answer "Why do you ask?"

"Just wondering, I hardly know anything about you. You've been stalking me for weeks, it only seems fair I know a little more about you."

Pulling the spit away from the flames, Blaine smirked, "You know, I wasn't just watching _you_ the whole time," he said handing the spit to Kurt "But its not fair."

"What isn't?"

"How handsome you are" Blaine said, Kurt flushing scarlet "I don't know how anyone can keep their eyes off you." Kurt's breath hitched, Blaine seemed much too close. Blaine was toying with him, he knew it. Kurt tried to laugh but it came out week and flat. Blaine was still looking at him, his face uncharacteristically open and genuine, searching Kurt's face for some sign. _To hell with it. _Kurt thought, two could play this game.

"You're not so bad yourself," Kurt said in what he hoped was a play-alluring sort of voice.

Blaine grinned at that. An unabashedly wicked smile that transformed his face, eyes glittering coyly.

Just then a noise at the camp entrance had Blaine at his feet, bow in his hands and arrow knocked in a whir of speed. Three figures emerged from the rock gap laughing and joking with one another. Blaine smiled when he saw them, greeting them with claps on their shoulders, Kurt standing outside their circle a little awkwardly before Blaine introduced them to him. Wes and David seemed genuinely pleased to see Kurt and seemed to share more knowing glances between the two of them then seemed strictly necessary. Kurt was relieved when Thad agreed to deliver a message to Burt, Kurt quickly scribbling a message on a paper produced from somewhere in the camp by Blaine, thanking Thad profusely for his help.

When everyone was settled with meat and water Blaine told an abbreviated tale of Kurt and Blaine's ordeal with the violent outlaws, Kurt interjecting the occasional correction when Blaine's boasting got a little too exaggerated, but really his depiction was more honest than Kurt would have thought Blaine could manage. Kurt even gave a colorful description of his attempts to escape before Blaine showed up, skipping over the more serious parts.

"Wait, so you're Kurt, Kurt Hummel the guy we've-"

"Yes, the guy who we've been wanting to buy that land from" Blaine cut across David's question, giving David a meaningful look that kept David quiet. Kurt noted the awkward exchange, peering questioningly at Blaine, but shook it off as nothing once Wes dove into a account of their time in the village.

After Wes and David's story (it wasn't really much of a story since the had spent the afternoon and most of the day at the village pub, a fact that Blaine seemed none too happy about, though Kurt secretly suspected it was because he felt left out) Blaine stood saying, "Kurt and I are heading into the village ourselves."

"Are we?"

"Yes, you said you were up for some fun tonight, seems like high time we pay a visit to Lord Tubbington" From the knowing glances exchanged between the other three Kurt had a feeling he wouldn't be treated to a night at the pub.

"Yes, but why do I get a feeling your idea of fun isn't the same as mine."

"Oh believe me, you'll think its fun."

A few minutes later Kurt and Blaine were on their way through the forest yet again, this time their destination being the village of Nottingham. It was a surprisingly short walk, the total distinction between the forest and groomed farm land was all but absolute.  
"Here's our stop," Blaine said stopping near an isolated, expansive manor house. "I probably should have checked earlier, but you're fine with being an excess to burglary right?"

"WHAT?"

"Knew it wouldn't be a problem." Just then a blonde woman in fancy clothes came into view across the grounds "Shit, come here" Blaine said ducking behind the manor house, "we'll have to be quick." Blaine tried the door which was of course barred. Kurt followed Blaine's glance to the second floor where a window was flung wide open.

"uh uh, no way, Blaine."

"Its one story Kurt, don't tell me you're afraid of heights."

"I'm not afraid of heights, I'm also not an idiot and have no interest in breaking my neck."

"Don't worry, I'll give you a boost."

So against Kurt's better judgement he found himself accepting a leg up from Blaine, and making careful progress, scaling the manor house. It wasn't as bad as he thought, he was strong from helping out with work on the estate to save money and Kurt found he had an almost instinct in finding grooves and notches to climb. He was hoisting himself through the window before Blaine had made it half way up the house. Flushed with adrenaline from the climb, he leaned out the window to yell, "any time now Blaine."

Blaine shushed Kurt, climbing through the window a moment later, grumbling something about how he had given Kurt a leg up after all, stopping abruptly when Kurt glared at him. Blaine took a finger to his lips to motion for silence and walked out of the room, Kurt following quickly out of the guest room they had climbed into.

Down the hall, Blaine entered a room that was clearly the master bedroom. It was lavishly, gaudily decorated, stuffed with artisan rugs, gold decorations, jewelry and high quality luxurious furniture.

"Wow," Kurt breathed taking in the sheer amount of money it must have taken to buy all these goods, let alone having them all moved here.

"What we are interested in is right here." Blaine said from where he was laying on the floor swiping under the bed with his arm and finally withdrawing a strong box.

"Its locked," Kurt noted.

Blaine pulled a key that was tied around his neck. "I had a key made a while ago, good old Lord Tubbington has been unwittingly financing Nottingham's most effective charity for years now."

"As predictable as the sunrise," Blaine said clicking the box open and rifling a handful of fat god coins into a leather pouch "Every month he refills his coffer and never realizes any of its missing, the fool."

Kurt didn't exactly like the situation but it was hard to be mad at Blaine when this Tubbington man was obviously rolling in so much wealth, almost.

Just then there was a noise on the stairs, "time to go." Blaine said jumping to his feet and crossing to the closed window, trying to force it open, but it wouldn't budge.

"Its stuck." Kurt offered

"Very helpful Kurt," Blaine said not abandoning his efforts to unstuck the window, the steps were in the hall now, whoever it was would be in the room in a matter of seconds.

"You're the criminal mastermind, whats plan B?"

Blaine whirled away from the window, a teasingly thoughtful look on his face.

"Follow my lead." he whispered as the door creaked open and the blonde they had spotted across the estate entered, her expression not nearly as surprised as it should have been when encountering two strangers unexpectedly.

"Oh, I thought I heard voices." she said simply.

"Mrs. Pierce!" Blaine said relief thick in his voice "we were just checking on things for Lord Tubbington"

"Oh he asked you to keep an eye on the house while he was away too?"

"Yep." Blaine said with a plastered on smile, edging towards the door, "but you're here now, so we'll just be going." At the door Blaine broke into a run and Kurt followed suit, Mrs. Pierce's voice carrying down the stairs.

"Wait a second, who did you say you are?"

Blaine swung the front door open, yelling behind his shoulder, "We didn't!" and promptly collided with a well-dressed lady, looking impossibly beautiful in leather riding clothes.

"Fuck no." She said, clearly outraged, before proceeding to slap at Blaine repeatedly until he had the sense to duck away.

"You bastard. You actually have the nerve to show your face in this village again after I ran you off my property last week." she yelled.

Blaine smirked. "Ah Lady Lopez, didn't expect to run into you today, literally or figuratively."

Then in a voice thick with seductive menace she said, "I thought I told you that if I ever saw you again I'd make certain you never forgot the experience," she said menacingly rubbing a hand along Blaine's jaw.

"As delightful as I'm quite certain that would be, I actually have other plans." He said ducking out of Lady Lopez's reach, narrowly dodging a well aimed punch and making a beeline for where Lady Lopez's horse was casually nibbling at grass, Kurt tight on his heels, Blaine slowing down only enough to spook the horse with a hard slap to its rear.

"You'll fucking pay for what you've done Robin Hood, this isn't over," Lady Lopez screamed in frustration.

Blaine was laughing through his fast breathing as the two of them sped across the estate. Kurt looking behind him to see the woman running in the opposite direction after her horse, and sped up to run even with Blaine. He had to admit it was exhilarating, running full out like this, even if he felt more than a little guilty running away from a clearly distressed woman, with the man who had done the distressing no less.

"Blaine, what did you do, she was absolutely livid."

"Oh don't worry, her bark is worse than her bite. Santana and I have had a happy animosity going for a while now."

"A happy animosity?"

"I think she enjoys trying to keep me out of the family coffers more than she's willing to admit. She did get a little more touchy than usual over some jewelry I took off her hands, but it was for a good cause, I assure you."

Kurt and Blaine didn't slow as they reached the tree line, plunging into the underbrush, taking quick short steps as they kept speed down a sharp incline. Somehow Blaine miss-stepped and took a tumble; Kurt, on instinct, reaching out absurdly as if to catch him, Blaine grabbing onto Kurt's hands, momentum carrying Kurt to the ground, landing sprawled on top of Blaine his face an inch away from Blaine's.

Kurt didn't move for a second, breathing fast from running and momentarily transfixed by the bewitching jumble of greens and light browns in Blaine's eyes.

"We seem to be finding ourselves in this position a lot." Blaine said after a moment, beaming.

Kurt quickly pulled himself off Blaine so he was sitting in the grass next to him, Blaine propping himself up on his elbows.

"Lucky I was here to save you from falling," Kurt said joking, picking up on Blaine's infectiously joyful spirit.

"Lucky I was here to break your fall you mean," Blaine said sitting up and shoving Kurt playfully on the shoulder.

"Watch it, next time don't grab onto me when you're falling," Kurt said shoving back.

"Next time don't flail your limbs in front of my face when I'm falling,"

"Alright, alright, I hereby promise _not_ to try to prevent any sort of harm to your physical person from here on out, will that work for you?" Kurt said, he was joking of course, but saying the words somehow seemed to make the opposite true, and it was almost like Blaine knew what he really wanted to say.

"Actually I think thats an awful idea, I might need you yet Kurt Hummel," keeping his gaze on Kurt's face for a beat too long, clearing his throat he said, "anyway, you seem pleased with yourself, I knew there was an adventurous spirit buried underneath all those layers of noble pretension."

Kurt was still more than a little annoyed at Blaine's flippant attitude, even if Kurt was honest with himself and admitted that it was rather adorable at the same time.

Still, he couldn't help admitting that their little exploit had stirred something of that adventurous spirit Blaine had referred to.

"Fine. I'll admit that was a little fun. There, now you know, you are a terrible influence on me. But in case you were wondering I don't think theres a thing honorable about stealing from innocent people, no matter how filthy rich they are."

"Fair enough. But we're not done quite yet."

* * *

AN: Thanks so much for reading, please review if you can, even just to say what you hate about it, so I can improve. Like really, is it awful?

Note: I couldn't resist the temptation of making Lord Tubbington an actual lord but his only similarity to canon Tubbington is that he's friends with Brittany (as in he's not a cat man creature, just wanted to make that clear).

A big heart to heart between Kurt and Blaine coming up in the next few chapters.


	6. Chapter 6

AN: Thanks so much for the favorites/follows/reviews! They mean so much!

* * *

Kurt followed Blaine along the perimeter of the forest until they reached the outskirts of the main part of the village. A couple dozen dilapidated, messily constructed small houses were clustered around a central paddock of sickly looking cows. Beyond the circle of houses he could see the center of Nottingham, a row of shops built close together on a dirt road, the gallows and stocks in the center of town an ominous presence.

Blaine, uncharacteristically serious, gestured to the makeshift dwellings, "This is where the most unfortunate of Nottingham have been force relocate over the years." Kurt took in the meager shelters, most of them windowless, doors shut tight despite the warm day, the few people who were out and about were dressed in rags, no more than skin and bones, their eyes vacant.

"Its awful," Kurt said shaking his head, "why is this happening?"

"They're in debt because of taxes, every penny they can make goes straight to the tax collector, they won't be able to store up anything for the winter and they can't make any investments in their farms or businesses. That is if they're lucky enough to have their own piece of land, most of these people work for next to nothing on the large estate farms, they just keep getting farther and farther into debt, its just going to be an endless cycle until something changes."

"But you still try to help them."

"I do what I can, try and make sure no one starves, but its not enough," Blaine shook his head before running a hand through his curls and Kurt heard him mutter "its never enough."

Kurt could hardly stand how miserable Blaine looked. He reached out a hand tentatively, and squeezed his shoulder, smiling reassuringly "Hey, you try. Thats more than a lot of people can say." Blaine just smiled weekly. Kurt thought back to the land Blaine had wanted from the Hummel's, was it really so important they keep their hold on it if it could help these people?

Kurt watched, mesmerized, as Blaine strode into the tangle of houses, people emerged from the closed up houses as soon as they saw him, smiling warmly and greeting Blaine (who they addressed as Robin) like a long lost friend. Kurt watched Blaine discreetly hand out packages as he went.

At one house where a gaggle of children piled out behind a frazzled woman Blaine left a massive slab of meet on a table just inside the door. Tucking a handful coins in the woman's hand as he said goodbye with a friendly kiss to her cheek. A passing man in the clothes of an ironworker got a coin and a friendly nod from Blaine.

Blaine seemed to know everyone and more than that, he knew about their lives. 'Was John still sick? Did Ana have her baby yet? Was the bakery still giving away its stale bread?' Kurt was in awe over how much Blaine genuinely cared.

Kurt watched everything, growing more conflicted, there could be no right answer, what had happened to these people, these circumstances-so out of their control, was wrong, but to steal from people who had done nothing wrong and were no less responsible didn't seem right either.

Kurt was distracted from his pondering when a tiny girl in rags attached herself firmly to his calf.

"Hi sweetheart," Kurt said trying to give her a warm smile.

"Ah, Marta has taken you captive, good luck freeing yourself now." Blaine said while Kurt tried to walk along awkwardly with the little girl still standing on his foot.

"Should a small child like this be wondering the streets alone?" Kurt said, she wasn't a baby but she seemed at that age where she could easily get herself into dangerous situations without even realizing it.

"Probably not, she doesn't really have anyone to take care of her, not the way a mother would anyway."

"What do you mean?" Kurt asked his heart breaking a little, ok a lot, as he looked at the girl again with new eyes.

Blaine's face twisted into a grimace as he spoke "her parents are dead Kurt, can you imagine how hard it is to stay healthy when you never have enough to eat and can't sleep because you're so cold? They died last winter."

"Oh my God," Kurt breathed his stomach twisting at the thought. His mind was whirling, he didn't want to think about this, the girls parents' freezing and starving while they lay dying. The girl, she was so young, to have lost both her parents.

"Who cares for her then?"

"Her grandmother, she does her best, but she's well on in years already, she has trouble getting around and forgets things, things people shouldn't forget, like that she has a child to take care of."

Marta was staring up at him again, Kurt disentangled her from his leg and knelt down so he could talk to her, "would you like a piggy back ride?"

Marta smiled and nodded enthusiastically, Kurt swinging her up onto his back in a smooth movement, "hold on tight," he warned grabbing her legs securely.

"Tell me which way to go, I'll take you home ok?"

"Home!"

"She likes you," Blaine said grinning. "You must be good with kids."

"Go, pony, go!"

"Sorry, looks like I have to go," Kurt smiled back.

"I'll meet you there," Blaine called as Kurt jogged off, Marta bouncing on his back while she pointed out the route, the two of them laughing the whole time. She called out that they were there and Kurt pulled her off his back twirling her around in a circle above his head, watching her laugh before he put her down, patting her head a little awkwardly and telling her to be good.

"Whats your name?" Marta asked

"Um," Kurt thought about it should he use a fake name? "I'll have to get back to you on that," Marta shrugged her shoulders before disappearing into her home.

Kurt turned back to the street to see Blaine making his way down it, his backpack looking considerably lighter now.

Kurt was about to say something to him but Blaine gave the sign for silence and beckoned Kurt to his side, pulling up his impressive hood at the same time. When Kurt reached his side Blaine whispered, "when she falls, try to catch her like you did me." For a second Kurt was distracted by the feel of Blaine's warm breath on his ear and he was afraid he hadn't caught what Blaine had said, it certainly didn't make much sense, but Kurt nodded anyway.

Blaine seemed especially tense as he fell into step beside Kurt, he thought he knew why when he glimpsed a woman in all black, gaudy, expensive clothes, making her way down the street, her face drawn in a tight scowl, hair severely pulled back, a massive loop of keys at her waist. The street was suddenly, ominously empty and silent, the only sound the soft thump of her footfalls in the packed dirt.

"Who-" Kurt leaned in to ask but Blaine shook his head ever so slightly, tugging his hood down further so that his face was completely lost in shadow. Blaine sped up as they approached her, they were right on top of her. Kurt didn't see how it happened but somehow she was falling and Kurt was lunging to grab her before she fell. For a second there seemed like there were too many limbs all flailing together and then Kurt managed to set her on her feet, mumbling an apology for what he didn't know, too distracted by the fact that Blaine had suddenly disappeared to worry about what he was saying.

"Get your hands off me freak!" the woman all but shrieked. Kurt dragged his attention away from the seemingly empty street and realized he still had his hands on the woman's hips after his efforts at righting her and jerked them away.

"I'm sorry. Excuse me." Kurt made a half bow that was really more of a nod and made to move away when he felt the woman's nails dig into his arm and he was pulled roughly to face her.

"Better watch yourself." the woman said with much too much venom, getting in Kurt's face. "Who are you?" she asked as an after thought like she only just realized she didn't recognize him.

Kurt wanted nothing more than to call this woman out on her ridiculousness but a nagging, wary feeling working its way up his spine made him bite his tongue.

"None of your business," he said matching her icy tone.

"Well you're in my town, so it is my business," she said getting up in his face again. So if you don't want to tell me who you are, why don't you get your ugly face out of my sight before I have someone re-arrange it for you."

If the woman wasn't staring at Kurt with so much obvious hatred he would have been tempted to laugh at her attempt to insult him.

"Do you have a problem with that, do you maybe think that you're not an ugly little freak?" the woman said, red blotches forming across her cheeks, clearly livid that she had failed to antagonize him.

"Ok, I've had enough of this, it was pleasant meeting you, I'll be leaving now," Kurt said, resolutely walking away before she could thinking of grabbing him again, not bothering to turn back and check her reaction, he had a feeling she was still fuming.

Kurt disappeared around the nearest corner and was almost knocked off his feet when a hand wrapped around his arm and tugged him into the shadows of a dark alley. Kurt experienced about two seconds of blind panic before he realized it was only Blaine, now pushing him against the rickety back wall of a store of some sort.

"What was that all about?" Kurt asked pushing Blaine away to give himself some space.

Blaine dangled a full money bag in front of Kurt's face, "Looks like our lovely Sheriff Kitty is going to have to scrimp and save for a couple of days to make up for this."

"Wait that was the sheriff? A _woman? _Is Kitty her real name?"

"Don't underestimate her, she's crueler than any man and she plays by her own rules."

Kurt gulped at the worried expression that crossed Blaine's features, it was shockingly close to fear. It was somehow more ominous to see it on Blaine's normally carefree face than on anyone else. Kurt said a silent prayer that he wouldn't have to meet her again.

"After all that, I think we deserve some drinks," Blaine said his features returning to normal.

"Is it safe to be hanging about the village?"

"Not exactly, but thats never stopped me before."

"Seriously? The only reason I'm here is for my apparent safety." Kurt said, chafed.

"I'm joking, of course its safe."

Just then a shriek echoed across the quiet of the village.

"On second thought, now might be a good time to make ourselves scarce, she may have just discovered her missing coin purse," Blaine said much too cheerfully, "after you," he added, opening the back door they were standing in front of and following Kurt into a dank looking public house. The air felt thick with the sour smell of alcohol and Kurt turned up his nose a little at the dark interior, suddenly glad they wouldn't be staying for that drink.

"Nice place," Kurt said.

Blaine laughed squeezing his shoulders once quickly as he ushered Kurt through the pub and out onto another street. "I think I know a place you'll like a little better."

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading! I had a ridiculously rough time writing this chapter. Next chapter is a bit more cheerful and you get that heart to heart I promised.


	7. Chapter 7

Kurt, once again, was following Blaine through the woods. In fact he was having a hard time remembering what he did with his time before he had an adorable outlaw to tag after all the time, Kurt banished the thought as soon as he thought it. Blaine had been kidding when he said Kurt was handsome, _hadn't he? _Kurt shook his head, he just admired Blaine because he was independent and skilled and funny and confident, nothing more. Although he would have had a better time convincing himself if he could stop glancing at Blaine's ass every other second.

They were heading up a steep incline, Kurt grabbing onto branches to pull himself up over rough terrain, his thoughts disrupted as he turned his full concentration to not tripping or falling down the massive hill they were making their way up.

"I have a sinking feeling theres not going to be some swanky pub on the top of this hill," Kurt said through heavy breathing.

"Not quite, but the climb is worth the effort believe me," Blaine's chipper voice was starting to become more annoying the more tired Kurt's feet became.

Finally they crested the hill, or at least Kurt thought they had crested the hill, really they just ran into a sheer rock face, effectively blocking their path. Kurt watched Blaine perform a tricky maneuver that involved swinging his body from a branch in order to land his feet on a high rock platform, and climbing monkey bar style across a few more branches until he disappeared completely onto the rock ledge. A moment later Blaine's head appeared peeking over the rock edge, "any time now, slow poke."

Kurt picked up a clod of dried dirt and lobbed it at his head, sprinkling himself in a shower of dust when the clod exploded against the rock, Blaine's head disappearing with a laugh.

Kurt surveyed the obstacle in front of him for about three seconds before realizing it would be easiest to simply scale the tree and shimmy down the massive branch that hung over the rock ledge. A minute later he was dropping gracefully to his feet behind Blaine, a little disappointed that Blaine had missed his graceful dismount.

At least until he noticed the incredible view which drove all else from his mind. The rock ledge had led to bluff overlooking the entire valley. The air itself seemed clearer here, everything in the valley laid out before him seemed within grasp, like he had only to reach out his hand and he could brush the feathery tops of the trees, like if he leaped from the ledge he would land lightly in the shimmering water of the creek that snaked through the valley.

"Pretty spectacular huh?" Blaine asked, Kurt had been too distracted to realize Blaine had turned to stare intently at him.

Kurt moved to stand beside him, shaking his head without realizing it, "Its amazing, how did you find it?"

Blaine shrugged, "too many hours wondering through these woods. Come on." Blaine led them a little farther along the cliff until they reached a massive boulder, hanging slightly over the edge.

Blaine climbed up first offering a hand to Kurt. Kurt squinted at it dubiously before shrugging and taking it, trying to convince himself it wasn't just because he wanted to feel Blaine's hand on his, letting Blaine help pull him up on the rock. The boulder seemed big from the ground but once you got up there, there was surprisingly little seating space, Kurt was forced to sidle right up next to Blaine, not that he really minded, the two of them hanging their legs over the edge, their feet resting on natural footholds in the rocks.

"My mom would have loved it here," Kurt said quietly, taking in the beautiful view, and wishing he could tell her about it, wishing he could bring her to this very spot so she could see it for herself.

"When did she die?" Blaine asked gently, matching Kurt's quiet tone, Kurt started to ask before he realized Blaine, of course, knew that too.

"A long time ago, I was really young. I thought I'd never be happy again, for a while I felt guilty for even thinking I should be happy, without her."

"Tell me about her."

And he did, haltingly at first, he had never talked to anyone about her except his father, telling someone else, bringing her to life with all of Kurt's happy recollections was like reliving a glittering moment in the life that had been taken from him. Blaine listened intently while Kurt talked about the strolls they would take through the woods, how Elizabeth knew all the names of the trees and would tell Kurt stories about fairies coming out to dance in the full moon. How she would let Kurt help in the kitchen when she was making the delicate special pastries she wouldn't trust to the servant. Would buy Kurt ribbons and swaths of beautiful fabric because he looked to 'jazz up' his formal wear, Kurt didn't even think to feel embarrassed about what a strange little boy he had been, everything in his memory was so sunny and warm, and he could see Blaine looking at him with a strange kind of look in his eye, softer and more vulnerable than he had ever seemed before.

Kurt couldn't stop talking when he reached the memory of Elizabeth's sickness, the long months of watching her health slowly decline until his mother slipped into feverish delusion. The sleepless nights after her death, huddled in his father's arms, unable to be comforted.

"I'm sorry." Blaine said when Kurt grew silent. Kurt just swallowed heavily, there was nothing else to say.

"You can see your house from here you know, its right there," Blaine said pointing. Sure enough, the gables were just visible through the trees, Kurt smiled.

"Can you see your childhood home from here?"

Blaine nodded, he still had that look in his eye, like a veil had been lifted, pointing to the right not far from where Nottingham lay.

"I used to come here a lot, right after..." Blaine sighed off. "You know I never showed anyone else this spot, it seemed better as a secret, until you. Theres something about you, you're special, Kurt, like I've been waiting my whole life, just for you to come along."

Kurt swallowed audibly again, he couldn't think straight, a thousand thoughts and feelings were bouncing around his mind; 'special', 'something about you', 'handsome', Blaine's hand on his shoulder, stolen glances, the prickle on his neck, Blaine's fingers in his hair, the way Blaine laughed, the feel of Blaine's body under his, those hazel eyes, his confidence, his independence, his compassion.

'Like I've been waiting my whole life, just for you to come along.'

All the air seemed to have been knocked out of Kurt's lungs, the silence was stretching on and Kurt couldn't think.

"Blaine..." he started, before words failed him completely. He was staring, he knew it, taking in all of Blaine, lingering on those strangely vulnerable eyes, studying Kurt back just as intently and still Kurt couldn't speak. A crease had appeared between Blaine's brows, the first sign as worry tinged his features. Kurt wanted nothing more than to kiss away that worry line that had appeared between Blaine's brows. And _God _how he wanted to kiss those lips, he could picture his fingers tangling in those curls as their lips met, how he'd run his tongue across Blaine's lower lip, Blaine's lips parting with a moan and... _No, nonono, he did not just let his mind go there, _Kurt thought snapping his gaze away from Blaine.

He wouldn't start thinking like that, he couldn't. Rejection would be bad enough, but if Blaine reacted badly, well Kurt couldn't imagine how miserable it would make him, he didn't want to think about it, it was better like this.

"Its getting dark," Kurt finally said.

Blaine's expression instantly shifted into something very much like disappointment.

"Right, we should be heading back."

Kurt led the way back off of the boulder, his mind echoing the words Blaine had spoken, coming up with any explanation for why he would have said what he did, any explanation other than what Kurt so badly wanted it to be.

* * *

AN: Don't worry, Kurt and Blaine will figure things out soon enough. Also I'm going to try to go to bi-weekly updates starting in December. Thanks so much for reading and God bless!


	8. Chapter 8

As soon as Kurt was back at camp and recognized Thad sitting in the clearing his mind jumped to concern for how his father had taken the news Thad had delivered. Kurt had kept the note brief, only saying that he had had a run-in with some thieves, that he was fine, had received aid from a traveling gentleman (admittedly that was a bit of a stretch) and had followed said 'gentleman's' advice to stay out of the area for a few days until he could safely return home. It sounded perfectly reasonable, but Kurt knew his father had a tendency to over-react.

"Hi Thad, Ok?"

"Yeah sure, hey," he said nodding to Kurt and Blaine.

"Did my father give a response?"

Thad took an annoyingly long time to dig through his pockets before he pulled out a piece of paper, Kurt all but ripping it out of his hand to read it.

_ Kurt, Thank God you're ok, we've been so worried. Come home as soon as its safe_

_ but don't do anything dangerous! So sorry this has happened to you. See you soon._

_ Love, Dad_

Kurt nodded his thanks after reading it and tucked the note in his own pocket, suddenly wishing he was home safe in his own house and desperately wanting a hug from his dad. It was silly, he knew, but Burt's note had brought back the frightening memories from that morning and he knew Burt's presence would have instantly erased the lump in his throat.

Kurt put his thoughts aside and tried to lose himself in the infectiously cheery atmosphere of the camp, Wes and David had been cooking meat when Kurt and Blaine arrived, coupled with bread and cheap mead they had brought back from the village it didn't make a bad meal.

Kurt noticed Blaine drinking heavily and before long Blaine was leading the others in a drunken round of some crude pub song, their voices carrying loudly out into the night, Kurt laughing and joining in occasionally when he knew the words.

Kurt felt bone tired as soon as he finished eating and could barely bring himself to gather up a few blankets and form a make-shift bed under the stars, drifting asleep as soon as he was settled, the sounds of the other's singing still carrying through the night.

Kurt woke hours later, when someone tripped over his feet, rusting noisily as they sat down next to him.

"Blaine?" he whispered, he thought he recognized Blaine's small frame in the dark.

"Kuuuurt," Blaine said, clearly drunk "Kurt I waslookin for you, have to tell yousomethin reeeally 'portent kay?" Blaine said sloppily his eyes blinking far too often.

"Blaine you are so drunk right now, just go to sleep."

"No Kurt, listen, listen...you're soooo...just awesome Kurt. Just so handsome and perfect...I want you so bad." Kurt stared wide eyed at Blaine's admission, but Blaine had apparently already forgotten his words, he was trying to lay down, falling awkwardly onto his arm, he heard Blaine mutter 'Kurt' once more before before he fell into a snore filled sleep.

Kurt lay back down, grinning ear to ear into the darkness.

Kurt blinked himself awake the next morning, covering his eyes with his hands as glaring light hit him, one glance at the sky told him it was well after noon.

He found Blaine sitting haunched over, squinting as he worked at fletching an arrow, looking remarkably well put together for how drunk he had seemed last night, then again it was after noon.

Blaine squinted up at Kurt as he approached, "morning sleepy head."

"You're one to talk." Kurt said sitting beside him, "do you remember all but stumbling over me in the middle of the night and having a rather one sided conversation?"

Blaine turned beet red, his hand slipping on the arrow he was working on, a feather fluttering to the ground. "I was drunk," Blaine mumbled, his face a mixture of embarrassment and apprehension as he avoided looking at Kurt, "Did I um...what did I say?"

Kurt smirked, enjoying the opportunity to tease Blaine, "Don't worry, nothing bad." Nothing bad at all, Blaine's accidental reveal was almost all Kurt needed to be convinced that he hadn't made up the whole thing in his head, if only Blaine hadn't been drunk out of his mind.

Blaine put down his arrow and turned to assess Kurt, cocking his head to the side and giving him that questioning look that he was starting to find more and more adorable.

Kurt smiled reassuringly, feeling a little bad for toying with him in the first place. "Don't you owe me a lesson with that bow you're so in love with," Kurt said nodding to where it was leaning against a rock nearby, before snatching the feather Blaine had dropped off the ground and handing it to him. Kurt felt his skin spark when Blaine's hand brushed his own, saw when Blaine's eyes snapped to his like he had felt it too.

There hands lingered together like that, Blaine's on top of his. Kurt felt like he wanted to say something but couldn't bring himself to form the words, maybe it was better left unsaid.

Blaine finally withdrew the feather from Kurt's hand, twirling it between his fingers before binding it sloppily to the arrow he was working on and casting it aside for now.

"Right. So longbow, first off you need a wrist guard," Blaine said. Kurt followed Blaine to where he was digging through the pile of spare clothes. Blaine picked up a particularly nasty looking thin that looked like it had spent a couple years submerged in mud and had been recently un-earthed. Blaine held it gingerly by a strap like it might bite him, but that somehow didn't stop him from offering it to Kurt.

Kurt shook his head decidedly and Blaine tossed it aside, his nose wrinkling up at it.

"How about this?" he asked brandishing a perfectly acceptable specimen, "unless you think it doesn't match your outfit."

"I knew it would be a mistake telling you that story," Kurt said grabbing the guard out of his hand and putting it on.

Blaine created a makeshift target by pinning an oversize leaf to a tree trunk at the edge of the clearing with a knife, Kurt thought it seemed like an unfairly small target.

Blaine returned to Kurt's side looking wary as he gripped is bow tightly.

"For heaven's sake Blaine, I won't hurt your baby." Kurt said as Blaine reluctantly handed over the bow, Kurt pulling an arrow from Blaine's quiver on the ground.

Kurt tried to get familiar with the bow, placing his hands the way he had seen Blaine do. The weapon seemed awkwardly large and ungainly under his hands after his crossbow, his left hand wrapping around the wood while the fingers of his right hand gripping the arrow and the string as he tried to prop it over his fingers, groaning when it tumbled to the ground for the third time.

"Hold the bow horizontal, remember gravity is your friend." Blaine said crossing his arms as he examined Kurt's grip and stance.

Kurt did as suggested and soon had the arrow in place, two fingers from his right hand gripped around the string as he drew back. He knew it would take a fair amount of strength but he still wasn't prepared for the amount of drag it took, before he knew what was happening he had released the arrow, watching it dive pathetically mere feet from where he stood.

Kurt glanced at Blaine to see him looking down trying to hide a smile. Kurt pulled the arrow from the ground and returned to his stance beside Blaine, determined to get it right this time.

"Nice and slow this time," Blaine encouraged, Kurt positioned his feet and made to draw back, his right hand reaching to somewhere close to his nose before he looked down the arrow at the leaf and let fly. It didn't quite make it, grazing the tree lightly.

Kurt prepared for his third attempt, surprised when he felt Blaine step up behind him, reaching his hand around to place it on top of Kurt's left and speaking right next to his ear. "Its not so much about looking down the arrow to aim, the most important thing is to draw back the same distance every time, so you always know exactly where your arrow is going, then just look at the target."

"You want your knuckle to hit the same spot on your face every time, thats how I always know, you should aim for, well, here." He could feel Blaine's body pressed against his, Blaine leaned in closer to lay a finger on Kurt's cheek, just inside from his jaw line and Kurt couldn't help whipping around at the unexpected touch. The inertia from his spin knocked him off balance and he started to fall back, Blaine steadying him with a hand to his lower back.

Kurt gasped at their closeness, impossibly aware of each point that their bodies touched, the bow hanging forgotten at Kurt's side.

"Sorry, I startled you," Blaine breathed, his voice low. Kurt was lost in those hazel eyes, they were still tinged with the vulnerability Kurt had seen on the bluff, layered with uncertainty and something else, something like _want._

Kurt leaned closer, like he was drawn by some unseen force, "not at all."

"Kurt theres I something I should tell-"

Loud voices interrupted Blaine mid-sentence, Wes, David, and another man Kurt hadn't met yet burst into the clearing, their voices cutting each other off as they discussed the merits of some mechanism they were working on, Kurt only being able to make out bits and pieces of the argument.

"I can't _believe_ you thought testing it on the cart was a good idea, what if I would have been moving someone sick?"

"Its not like we have a lot of options for test runs in the middle of the woods."

"I _knew_ a pulley system would have worked better, but no, a pulley system takes too long, we'll just use a rock, why don't we stop using our words and just grunt, _that _might save time too, maybe for once I'd be able to get something through to that thick. skull. of. yours." Kurt watched their antics as they approached, a little concerned when David started to accentuate his points by flicking Wes on the forehead.

"Shut up, Blaine will agree with me, and then you'll see." David snapped back, shoving Wes' hand away.

The little group had reached Blaine and Kurt and started talking all at once so that it was impossible to hear what one was saying over the other.

"Guys, please, this is not the end of the world. Next time just ask Trent before you test out one of your booby traps on his cart. Wes and David, if you can't decide on a design just test out both and see which works better."

Kurt stared at Blaine, still just shocked that he'd been able to make out what the argument was even about.

"By the way, Kurt this is Trent, Trent, Kurt" Blaine said waving between the two.

"Kurt? Why does that name sound familiar."

"Because he was stalking me," Kurt said lightly, surprised with how used to the idea he had become, that probably wasn't very healthy.

Trent gave him a funny look before turning his attention back to Blaine who was still trying to sort out some disagreement about weather a booby trap could be tested without the element of surprise.

* * *

AN: Thanks for reading! Don't know why I had so much trouble with this chapter too.

Up next, one of the boys finally makes a move.


	9. Chapter 9

Thanks so much for sticking with this story and following and reviewing!

casual reminder for this and upcoming chapters, this story is rated M for sexual themes and by sexual themes I mean sexual content

* * *

Kurt and Blaine ended up spending the afternoon helping the others design a spring trap that would jam the wheels of an unsuspecting passing carriage so they could more easily relieve noble's carriages of their expensive goods. Kurt wasn't exactly experienced in the booby trap building area but he found solutions clicking into place once he realized what Wes and David were trying to accomplish, flitting around the open space they had commandeered as a test sight, making adjustments where he saw fit and trying not to think too much about what the device would actually be used for.

All afternoon Kurt and Blaine seemed to bump into each other more than sheer chance would allow. Kurt felt Blaine's hand brush against his as he passed by, felt the pressure of Blaine's thigh against his when he kneeled beside him, a gentle nudge from Blaine's shoulder as they worked side by side, all the lingering touches returned by ones from Kurt. Kurt found his eyes drawn to Blaine over and over again, lingering on the back of his neck, the set of his shoulders, while he hunched over some minute detail. They were all stolen glances and flashed smiles and being much too unsubtle in front of the others.

It was still bright out but Kurt guessed it was getting onto evening when Blaine caught Kurt's eyes, his face lit up with a smile that Kurt returned, oblivious to the plans the others were making about moving the trap to the main road in hopes of breaking it in on someone passing by on the main road.

"You guys go ahead," Blaine said still looking at Kurt, "I promised Kurt I would show him something."

Kurt noticed Wes give David a pointed look, brows raised but the two shrugged a a second later, turning their attention back to helping Trent.

Blaine reached Kurt's side, their hands brushing again.

"Funny, I don't seem to remember you promising to show me anything."

Kurt saw the slightest color bloom high on Blaine's cheeks as he leaned in closer to whisper, "will you come?"

Kurt nodded, his heart beat fluttering when Blaine slid his fingers between his, squeezing once before drawing back as the pair walked back in the woods.

The sun in the approaching dusk lit the forest with a thick golden glow, the light almost a physical presence, the sun's final burst of light before darkness overtook it.

The walk seemed short, Kurt enjoying the companionable silence, wanting to reach out and take Blaine's hand and not let go, wanting to be certain, wanting quite a few things that he couldn't quite put into words.

Kurt heard the water first, a gentle rushing sound, the pair stepped from the forest and Kurt sighed at the sight. A waterfall, taller than Kurt and wide enough for the gush of water to appear slow, cascading freely over a wall of rock, a shimmering surface reflecting the web of trees around it.

"Beautiful," Kurt smiled at Blaine "how many of these charming little spots do you have catalogued?"

"This is the last one, but the forest is always full of secrets," Blaine said shuffling his feet, " I wanted you to see it before, before you left."

With a guilty twinge Kurt thought of Burt, probably still worried sick about him and anxiously awaiting his return, Kurt couldn't stretch his time in the forest much longer.

Blaine led Kurt closer to the waterfall and he realized there was an alcove, partly behind the stream of water, its walls made of rock, surprisingly dry for being so close to the waterfall, Kurt let his hand graze over the cool rocks as he walked.

Blaine stopping to lean against the rock wall, peering at the water from beneath. Kurt followed suit, leaning beside Blaine.

"Blaine, did you mean those things you said, on the cliff?" Kurt asked, he eyes still on the water, feeling certain Blaine could hear his heart it was beating so loud in his chest.

"Yes."

"About..."

"Every word," Blaine's voice shook a little, Kurt felt him shift beside him to look at his face, Kurt pushing away from the wall to study him.

"Because..." Kurt started, he wanted to say something, something about the way his skin tingled when they touched, or how his stomach did a happy little jig when Blaine smiled at him, something about...But he was getting lost in those hazel eyes again, drawing closer and closer, he could see every one of Blaine's eyelashes flutter against his cheek as he blinked, the individual specks of green, and brown and tan in his eyes. Kurt leaned forward in earnest, closing the last gaps between them, and suddenly, without even realizing it, like it was merely an afterthought in his efforts to get closer to him, Kurt closed his eyes and kissed Blaine square on the mouth.

It was chaste but Kurt still felt like his brain might explode from the feel of Blaine's lips on his. This alone was more than he had ever dared hope for, a stolen kiss with a beautiful boy, and yet it was so much more than that, Blaine wasn't just some pretty face, they had _something, _Kurt couldn't give it a name yet, but he knew it was something.

Time stilled, it couldn't have been more than a second when there lips had touched, but when Blaine broke away Kurt felt like they had entered a new era, maybe they had.

"Kurt."

Panic, sheer mind numbing panic, there was a tinge of something close to regret in Blaine's voice and _God _after everything he had somehow managed to misread the whole thing.

But Blaine's expression looked something close to wondrous, his eyes were darting across Kurt's face and then, yes, Blaine was definitely staring at his lips. "God, Kurt, kiss me again."

Everything but Blaine flew from Kurt's minds at his words, Kurt leaning down again slightly to meet the shorter boy's lips. Kurt's hand found his way to Blaine's cheek, Kurt tugging at Blaine's lower lip before he opened his mouth with a moan, flicking his tongue into the wet heat. Blaine's hands roaming to Kurt's hips, snagging around his waist to pull him closer.

Kurt had to put a hand on the wall to steady himself as he all but fell on Blaine, their bodies slotting together. They broke apart only long enough to catch their breath, their kissing turning fast and needy, a little sloppy caught up in the sudden rush of passion.

"Blaine" Kurt breathed as Blaine started kissing down his neck, Blaine's hand's working their way under the hem of his shirt. And all Kurt could think was _moremoremroe, _needed to feel closer, needed more.

Kurt let Blaine pull his shirt off over his head, tugging Blaine's off and pulling him away from the wall so he could roam his hands over Blaine's muscled back, entranced by the ripple of movement there. Blaine's hands had drifted to his ass, thumbs coming up to pull at the top of his pants and Kurt realized this would be much better without clothes. Kurt gave Blaine's pants a tug and soon they were tumbling to the ground undressed, Kurt pulling Blaine on top of him.

Kurt's fingers found their way to his hair while Blaine kissed patterns down his chest, gasping when his tongue flicked over the sensitive skin of his nipple, the blood steadily pooling south making him fully hard. Feeling Blaine hard against his thigh, Kurt rolled them so he was laying on Blaine, slotting their hips together and leaning down for a kiss, his hips bucking arhymthicaly against Blaine's, the tempo evening when Blaine started rutting up against Kurt, Blaine a mess of groans and moaning under him.

Kurt felt pressure building but his brain was too fuzzy to form coherent thoughts, a next step not exactly presenting itself. Blaine's hands roamed across his back, Blaine arching his head back when Kurt leaned down to suck at a spot above his collarbone.

"Blaine, I..." Kurt moaned out but he was already over the edge, coming between them with a strangled 'fuck.'

"Aaahg, Kurt," Blaine said, hips still bucking, Kurt shifted his weight to take Blaine's cock experimentally in his hand, Blaine holding his gaze as he fucked into his hand a few times before cum flowed over Kurt's hand and Blaine's eyes fluttered shut, the pair relaxing on the ground.

"Mmm" Kurt murmured after a moment, sated and dopey, "I hope you don't do this with everyone you pick up in the forest," Kurt joked.

"Nope, just you," Blaine said wrapping his arms around Kurt's back.

Kurt laughed into Blaine's shoulder, "I'm just lucky I guess."

"No, I'm lucky."

Kurt wanted nothing more to lay like this for hours and talk silly, blissed out nonsense, but already the sticky mess between them was starting to bother him. He stood up with a groan, grateful for the close proximity of water to clean up. Getting dressed quickly afterwards, it was starting to get colder already, and it would be just too convenient if Blaine had a blanket stashed somewhere. Kurt made a mental note to bring one next time, _next time, _and smiled to himself.

Blaine was at the waters edge, working at spot of dirt under his nail in the last rays of sunlight, Kurt taking a seat crosslegged beside him.

"It was good right?"

The corner of Blaine's lip curled up in a smile, "do you really have to ask?"

"I, um, haven't... before," Kurt said hunching with he elbows resting on his knees.

Blaine snaked his hand around Kurt's shoulders, leaving it there this time and planting a kiss to the top of Kurt's head. "It was more than good. Are you sure you have to go back tomorrow?"

"At least for a few days."

"But you, um, you'd want to come back then, at least for a while?" Blaine said hopefully.

Kurt nodded quickly, "you've awakened the adventurous spirit in me remember? You can't expect me to go back to mending fences and hosting traveling nobles twenty-four/seven after that."

"You do spend a lot of time mending that fence."

"Too soon to make jokes about the stalking."

"Sorry."

"I'll talk to my dad about the land though."

"Really?" Blaine looked shocked, not even pleased, just shocked, "you know, if you cared so much about it, you could have just come up to the house and talked to us about it, you're trying to do a good thing, my father would respect that, I don't know if he'll agree to selling it, but maybe we can set something up, figure out a way so it benefits people who need it."

"I, I don't know what to say. Th- thank you," Blaine said hold Kurt's hands in his, and kissing him softly "thank you so much, really."

The pair stayed up late talking after that. Their voices mingling pleasantly as the darkness grew thicker around them. Chatting about everything and anything, but nothing really, just silly things; tracking and food and funny childhood stories. Talking when the way you say it means more than what you actually say, the hundreds of little details that piece together and reveal who a person is.

Blaine didn't offer an explanation for why he had first come to the woods and Kurt didn't ask, content to wait until Blaine was ready to tell him. But there were things that bothered him, loose ends collected in the back of his mind with a dozen questions he didn't feel right asking, the gruesome scar on his side, the childhood friend he never mentioned by name and only referred to in past tense, the fact that he had left a seemingly good life behind, it just didn't all quite fit. But when they finally grew quiet, Kurt snuggled against Blaine's side with his eyes on the stars, he thought nothing had ever seemed so right than this moment.

* * *

Yes the waterfall setting was inspired by the '70s animated disney robin hood movie, which clearly I'm still not over...

A bit of fluff coming up but Kurt and Blaine still have some things to work through.


	10. Chapter 10

Once home, Kurt realized he wasn't the only one feeling a little love-giddy thanks to the last few days. There was something uncomfortably close to jealousy when Kurt realized how chummy Burt, Carole and Finn had grown. For the first time, Kurt didn't feel needed. It was both freeing and troublesome, Kurt not quite able to decide which feeling would win out. He was happy for his father, really, he had hoped for this ever since he saw the way his father's face lit up when he said Carole's name. But there was a significant part of Kurt that mourned the end of just Burt and Kurt, they had relied on each other, only each other, for so long, and now that just wasn't the case.

"You're quiet again tonight Kurt," Burt said at dinner the second day, "you've barely told us anything about your stay with that mysterious, charitable gentleman."

"Oh yes, anyone we might know?" Carole inquired.

"Erm, no I don't think so, I got the impression he was more of a loner," Kurt said feeling the tips of his ears grow red as he lied.

"Well we're certainly very thankful he was willing to help you then." Carole said politely.

"Yes, he's um, very interested in charity work, in fact he had a project he asked me to bring up with you Dad, about that land you own near Nottingham."

"No business now, after dinner," Burt said waving the topic away with his fork.

"Hey, what if your charitable gentleman was actually that scoundrel that keeps stealing from people in Nottingham, now that would be something, that Robert Hood or whatever," Finn said offhandedly. Kurt nearly choked on his peas, Puck subtly thwacking him on the back as he re-filled his wine glass to get Kurt to stop coughing.

"Finn, honestly, the things you say sometimes," Carole said trying to brush over Finn's awkward manners, Kurt felt a tug of admiration for the woman, it was a miracle she could put up with that airhead of a son of hers, though maybe not quite such an airhead after all Kurt corrected himself. Then Finn grew ridiculously fascinated with a knot in the hardwood table and Kurt dismissed Finn'a momentary insight as sheer luck. But that didn't mean Kurt didn't keep glancing at Finn through the rest of dinner, wondering how he managed to come so close to the truth and if Kurt should be worrying about anyone else discovering his secret.

Kurt followed his father into the great room while Carole and Finn headed to their rooms, suddenly wishing he had thought out better what he was going to say.

"So what's this about our land near Nottingham? You know, its been in our family for hundreds of years."

"Yeah I know. Who's running it now, its being used as a farm I understand."

"The Lopez family, they have a whole system of farms over there, they have quite a business going with tenant farmers." The Lopez family again, that couldn't possibly be good.

"Wait you know the Lopez family?"

"Not well, but I've met Mr. Lopez on a few occasions, charming daughter if I remember right."

"You see the thing is," Kurt started clearing his throat awkwardly, "the people of Nottingham, they're living in terrible poverty, if they could use that land for themselves, for growing their own crops, it might help make things easier for them."

Burt leaned back in his chair, Kurt could tell from the way his brows had furrowed together that he was deep in thought. "Lopez and I never did agree on a contract, I could easily get out of it for next season. I don't know if we can do without the income though."

Kurt brightened a little, that was still better than an outright no.

"What's brought this on Kurt? I've never heard you worry about the poor before."

"No, well, I never realized what things were like, before."

Kurt felt Burt looking at him questionably and decided to dismiss himself before he revealed anything he shouldn't, anything he _couldn't._

"Goodnight Dad."

"Night Son." Kurt heard as he headed to bed, a feeling of guilt twinging in his stomach, he hated having to lie to his dad.

Kurt woke early the next morning, his sleep disrupted by thoughts of Blaine. For a second, in the space just before waking Kurt had thought Blaine was there with him, disarmingly domestic. The thought clinging to Kurt even as he returned to full consciousness, letting his sleepy mind drift to what it would be like to wake up every morning next to him, becoming more and more familiar as the years passed, until he knew Blaine better than he knew himself. He let the fantasy take root, knowing it was silly, knowing he could never have that life, not with Blaine.

Kurt finally got up once Puck came in to tidy up. Lingering at his window, his throat tightening as he looked out towards the forest, marveling at how he had come so completely undone in a few days, he didn't know what to do with himself.

"Have you ever been in love Puck?" Almost not realizing he had spoken out loud until Puck actually answered him.

"I've made love to plenty of women Mr. Hummel." Puck answered with a grin. Kurt groaned, he really should have known better than to ask Puck a serious question. "Can't say for certain if I ever loved any of them. I do rather pride myself on my ability to recognize the symptoms, and you my friend have got it bad. Kurt Hummel running around with a rogue, who would have thought?"

Kurt blanched, making a conscious effort to close his mouth as he stared at Puck in shock, "how-"

"Don't worry, your secret's safe with me. But really, you could work on your subtlety, you turn red every time you mention your 'charitable gentleman' then you gave Finn a look like he had just announced the second coming of Christ when he mentioned Robin Hood," Puck said smiling liberally, probably in part because of Kurt's shocked expression.

"I-" Kurt's brain was working over time "you really won't say anything?"

"What would I say? Just be careful, I don't want to see you get hurt."

Kurt nodded, mind still reeling.

"Thanks Puck. Sometimes I think I under-value you."

"How about making it up to me by giving me a few weeks off while your father is at the Hudsons"

"What?"

Puck backpedaled with his hands up, "ok, ok, sorry, just a thought."

But Kurt was already throwing his clothes on, pulling his shirt down as he rushed down the hall into the great room.

"Dad," he said breathlessly, as he all but slid into the dining room from the inertia of jogging down the hall. Seeing Carole and Finn at the table with his father, Kurt tried to regain some semblance of composure, painfully aware that he hadn't so much as run his fingers through his hair, "morning, everyone," Kurt said calmly.

"Kurt." His father said uncertainly.

Kurt helped himself to breakfast trying to start off the conversation casually as he took a seat, "so whats this I hear about you visiting at the Hudson's for a few weeks."

"Well Carole was kind enough to invite us. I was, um, going to talk to you about this later,"

"Oh ok." Kurt said lamely picking at his food. The rest of breakfast passed awkwardly, Carole and Finn excusing themselves rather quickly leaving Burt and Kurt alone.

"You're angry." Burt observed.

"I'm not angry, I'm just not used to hearing news from _Puck_,"

"Right, so you hate the idea of staying home alone while I travel and stay with them for a few weeks."

"What? No! I think its a great idea, I would love for you to do that, really, I hate it that you never get out to visit people. It's just that I worry about your health."

"I'm feeling fine Kurt."

"You're week, you're supposed to be taking things easy."

"I'll be careful, I promise."

Kurt smiled at his dad, he always did his best not to make Kurt worry but he couldn't help it, it was his responsibility to worry. "Then I suppose I promise to make sure the estate doesn't fall to pieces while you're gone." Kurt said, hoping he wouldn't regret agreeing to this so quickly.

Burt clapped him in the shoulder. "I don't tell you enough, how I proud I am to see the young man you've become."

"Thanks Dad," Kurt said, still beaming as his father left the dining room. Wondering if his father would say the same thing if he knew he'd been lying through his teeth ever since he got back, that he was running around stealing things with a wanted criminal, that he had enjoyed it even, that he planned on doing it again, that the smile on his face was as much thanks to the extra time he'd have with Blaine as it was for his father's happiness.

If possible, the inhabitants of the Hummel estate were in an even better mood once the prospect of Burt traveling home with the Hudson's had been confirmed. Kurt only wished his father would stop making hints that he felt bad about Kurt staying home to manage the estate, it _really _wasn't a problem, in fact Kurt was thankful he didn't have to try to come up with an excuse for not spending prolonged periods of time with Finn the witless wonder. Ok so he wasn't _that _bad, but he certainly wasn't great company.

By the time the third day finally rolled around Kurt was all but cursing himself for convincing Blaine to give him so much time at home. Puck mentioned that he could use a little help mending the fence and Kurt agreed, figuring it was the best way to spot Blaine without him having to get too close to the house, inwardly groaning when he thought about what Blaine would say about him working on the fence yet again.

He'd covered his planned absence by saying he wanted to go on a multi-day hunting trip, hoping that his sudden interest in camping was believable. Before following Puck out to the meadow he grabbed the sack he had packed and said goodbye to his dad, saying he was heading out after he gave Puck a hand. His father gave him a slightly quizzical look, like he knew something wasn't quite right, but then Carole came back in the room and he waved Kurt off with a smile.

Kurt almost cricked his neck when his eyes swept over him the first time, perched in the Y of an oversize tree branch, done up the way Kurt had first seen him, mud streaked over his arms and face and up into his hair, tangled with leaves.

Kurt vaulted the fence jogging towards him before he had made a conscious decision to, watching Blaine disappear from the tree branch as he jumped to the ground.

"Blaine." Kurt murmured when he came into view, he had steadied himself in a hurry, leaning against the tree, his arms crossed, one foot over the other, like he'd been standing all day waiting like this. Kurt launched himself at him, not really anticipating where his limbs were going to go. They ended up around Blaine's neck, Blaine's hands wrapping around his waist. Kurt dropped his hands to squeeze around Blaine's shoulders in a tight hug, feeling Blaine relax into the hug, sighing happily into Kurt's shoulder.

"Hey stranger," Kurt said, pulling back enough to pull a leaf from Blaine's hair, twirling it between his fingers in front of Blaine's face, arching his brow in question.

"Camaflouge, very important." Blaine said with a smile, snapping the leaf from Kurt's fingers and twisting it back into his hair.

"Or someone likes to play dress up," Kurt said examining the web of branches above him.

"Did you say something Hummel?" Blaine teased.

"Nothing," Kurt said, letting his hand trace over Blaine's mud streaked bicep, "just that we'll have to get you cleaned up soon," he added, trying to look at Blaine alluringly through his eyelashes, which didn't really work given his height advantage. Never the less, Blaine's eyes widened a little, his mouth drifting open just a bit. "Because I can't take you seriously when you look like a forest elf," Kurt said dissolving into giggles. Laughing all the harder at Blaine's tight lipped attempt to suppress his own laughter, chuckling along with Kurt when he couldn't hold it in any longer.

Ten minutes later Kurt and Blaine were on their way back to camp, Kurt having gathered his sack and crossbow and waved a quick goodbye at Puck, disappearing before giving Puck the chance to get in a smart comment.

They made their way slowly, pausing to enjoy the little pockets of beauty the forest had to offer if you were willing to look for it. Blaine pointing out the path for Kurt as they went, helping him remember the landmarks that would be the fastest, easiest route between the Hummel estate and the camp.

"And this tree here..."

"I remember, its the tree where you wanted to blindfold me, the camp is right down there. But right now, I think we should get you to that creek."

"Be serious for a second, you think you can get here alright?"

"Yes," Kurt said assuredly, "have a little faith will you."

"I would never doubt you. I just," Blaine said fiddling with his bow, "I hate the idea of not being able to find you, I wouldn't want you to feel that way."

"I have a feeling, that we'll always find each other," Kurt said with a hopeful smile that softened Blaine's features, Kurt's heart melting into a gooey mess at the way Blaine looked at him, like he was the only person he ever wanted to look at. It tugged the corner of Kurt's mouth up a little higher his head tilting a little to the side before they both started walking at the same time.

AN: Thanks for reading/reviewing! Merry Christmas/festive holiday of choice!

Coming soon: Blaine's been hiding something and Kurt finds out what it is.


	11. Chapter 11

Ok back to regular updates now again!

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Emerging from the cool of the thick woods, the day felt warm in a lazy sort of way, the sun an inviting caress on Kurt's face as the pair meandered their way along the creek's bank. They walked until the bank deepened, the water running slowly a few feet down from where they walked. Not talking much just sharing glances and touches as they went. Kurt stopped at a bend in the creek where an outcropping of rock crept from the bank out into the water creating a sort of peninsular, instantly pulled by a desire to climb down and sit on the sun-warmed rock.

A glance at Blaine was all he needed to communicate his plan, Kurt climbed down the bank, stumbling onto the rock, giving Blaine a hand as he stumbled after him, letting his hand linger on his forearm before breaking away with a sigh.

"I don't know Blaine, you might have to add this to your catalogue," Kurt said lowering himself to his stomach with his feet in the air, letting his hand rest on the surface of the slow-moving water. Blaine lay down criss cross next to him, using Kurt's back as a pillow as he looked up at the sky.

"I never would have thought to climb down here."

"What did you ever do without me," Kurt said lightly.

"I honestly don't know, weird isn't it that I've already forgotten how I lived without you."

Kurt swallowed a little thickly, the words swirling heavily through his mind and sending his heart fluttering.

"Come here," Kurt said, rolling away abruptly so Blaine's head thumped to the rock before he pulled himself up to sit cross-legged, rubbing the back of his head. "I think I said I was going to clean you up," Kurt said, kneeling in front of Blaine and looking at him gently, a small smile tugging at his lips as he reached his hand slowly up to Blaine's hair, Blaine following the movement with his eyes until they drifted shut, a silly smile parting his lips as Kurt worked the leaves free from his curls.

"You're kind of ridiculous," Kurt said wetting his handkerchief and going to work on Blain'e face.

"Maybe a little, but I didn't ask you to wash my face."

"Do you want me to stop?" Kurt said, suddenly worried he had over-stepped some boundary and pulling back.

"Um no," he said, leaning close, his voice dropping "its kind of hot." Kurt giggled in spite of himself, biting his lip as he ran the material down Blaine's arm. Stealing looks at Blaine's face, their eyes meeting every time.

"Much better," Kurt said, rinsing his kerchief and laying it out on the rock to dry. Blaine surprised him, taking his face in both of his hands. "Do I get I kiss, now I'm all clean and shiny?"

"I think thats fair," Kurt murmured, closing his eyes as Blaine leaned forward, brushing his lips across Kurt's gently before pulling back.

Kurt settled himself to take in the view of the creek. Looking upstream he could see the small falls where they had filled the waterskins that first day, the surface of the water turning crystal smooth before it reached them. Blaine wrapped his arms around Kurt, slotting his chest against Kurt's back and resting his chin on Kurt's shoulder.

"You miss it don't you, the forest, it hurts almost, when you can't get out and see it, the life thrumming everywhere."

Kurt had never told anyone, not even really admitting to himself what he felt as a sort of pull to the wild forest, the silence and the noise, the mess of life. That in the woods there was, something else. Something important that Kurt couldn't really put into words. In the woods he wasn't really Kurt Hummel, it didn't matter who his father was, didn't matter what responsibilities he had, didn't matter what society expected of his life. He was just a piece in some big, complicated world. But the feeling didn't really mean anything, or maybe it meant everything.

Before Kurt could answer he heard a twig snap and Kurt and Blaine both leapt to their feet, weapons in hand. Kurt motioned Blaine towards the bank and they knelt there, hidden from view. Kurt thinking madly of his attackers, panic thrumming through him. He spared a glance at Blaine, his face wary, his body strung taut, ready to spring into action, and felt a little better. Kurt held his breath, body shaking slightly as indistinct voices grumbled above them, their footfalls fading quickly.

Long after the woods had returned to silence, Blaine finally let himself relax, stretching his legs out in front of him, Kurt sidling up next to him.

"You're shaking." Blaine said gently, putting his arm around Kurt's shoulders.

Kurt shook his head, "for a second all the fear came flooding back, from the attack."

"They're gone Kurt. There's nothing out there that you can't handle."

Kurt exhaled sharply through his nose, swiping the back of his hand furiously at unwelcome tears. Until he saw the look Blaine was giving him, void of pity or concern, Blaine's oddly vulnerable face was all support and confidence, like he knew without a doubt that what he said was true. And Kurt didn't feel silly at all about tucking his head in Blaine's shoulder, letting him plant a kiss into his hair.

"Come on," Blaine said after a moment, disentangling himself from Kurt to begin pulling himself up the bank.

"What?"

"Well we have to see what they're up to don't we?"

Kurt sighed, wondering why he had been so anxious to get back to Blaine's mad adventures, "right behind you."

Kurt and Blaine's tracking methods weren't exactly the same. What should have been a simple solitary exercise in keen observance turned out to be a sloppy venture in combined methods. Twice Kurt had to clap his hand over Blaine's mouth to keep him from yelling out when Kurt went ahead of him and 'ruined the trail' for him. The pair almost gave up when they met a crossroads and each insisted they both knew the way, until Kurt eyed a broken twig they had missed and stamped on Blaine's foot in his eagerness to point it out to him (Kurt had been right.)

Kurt thought it was a testament to both their skills that they somehow managed to catch up with the pair, loudly talking as the stomped through the woods. Kurt and Blaine falling back to follow from a safe distance.

"She _said _don't bother coming back until we found something."

"I think thats more a figure of speech though."

"It didn't seem like a figure of speech when she was yelling it at us."

"Whatever lets just keep looking then."

Kurt turned to see Blaine's face shift from curious to anxious, his brows tugging into straight lines that didn't suit him.

"You think they're looking for you?" Kurt whispered.

Blaine shrugged his shoulders but Kurt had a feeling that was exactly what he was afraid of. "You think its Kitty?" Kurt said, knowing Blaine was a wanted criminal, it seemed common sense that the sheriff might have a vendetta of sorts against Nottingham's most well known outlaw.

But Blaine just shrugged his shoulders again, there was a look in his eye like he was forming a plan, that mischievous grin tugging at the corner of his mouth. "Go ask them."

"What?"

"Come on, it'll be easy. The way they're tromping around I bet they don't have enough brains between the two of them to count to ten. Come on, they could recognize me, you have to do it."

Kurt gave Blaine a slightly outraged stare before marching after the pair, hastily cobbling some story together as he went.

"Excuse me gentleman, excuse me!" Kurt yelled, walking confidently up to them. When they whirled around, Kurt noted they were unarmed, letting his shoulders relax a little more. "I think I got a little turned around, could you point me towards Nottingham?"

"Hey these woods are nowhere to be getting lost in," said the shorter one in a thick accent, his facial expression more than a little dazed, actually they both looked like they had been dropped on their heads one too many times as children.

"Its that way," said the taller one with too-blond hair pointing back the way Kurt had come.

"Are these woods really as dangerous as you say?" Kurt said fishing to make the conversation longer without outright asking what he wanted to know.

"I wouldn't say dangerous but there sure as hell is something not right about these parts."

"You mean, because of the outlaws." Kurt said in a dramatic whisper, like if he said it too loud hoards of men would start swinging from the tree branches to attack them.

"Uh uh, Robin Hood and some petty outlaws aren't nothing to think of in the _Old Woods_, the _Old Woods _aren't meant to be disturbed, no one with half a sense would go through here if they didn't have to."

"But you would." Kurt said skeptically.

"Not if we had a choice. Its Miss Lopez, she's got this crazy notion Robin Hood is holed up somewhere out here, hoarding all the treasure he's taken from her these past few years, she's got it fixed in her head to get it all back and make Robin pay to boot."

Kurt felt his throat grow dry, he'd been right, someone was looking for him and that couldn't be good at all. Kurt muttered about getting on his way and backtracked to Blaine.

"They work for Santana, she's looking for you." Blaine gave a short nod like he expected as much, like this sort of thing happened every day, turning on his heel and starting back in the direction of camp.

"What are you going to do?"

"If Santana wants to find me, I might as well make it easy for her. You and I are going to pay Santana a little visit."

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Thanks for reading, God bless.


	12. Chapter 12

AN: Violence warnings for this chapter: weaponless violence, bondage (its really not intense though)

A special thanks to teamdelena1 for all your lovely reviews, love hearing your thoughts!

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The Lopez mansion sat on a hill overlooking the village of Nottingham, so elegant and charming, Kurt felt a little bad about disrupting the beautiful tranquility of the place. Blaine wasted no time making a beeline for the front door, marching up the main walk in plain sight. "Are you sure this is a good idea?" Kurt said grabbing Blaine's elbow when he ignored him.

"Not exactly, but I'm going with instinct here."

Kurt could tell that the idea of Blaine's sacred, hidden campground being searched for had him on edge, he worried Blaine wasn't exactly using his best decision making skills at the moment.

"Do you even have any idea what she's after?"

Blaine's expression hardened a little before he shook his head, hand on the ornate door knocker when the front door opened from underneath his hand. The tall blonde on the other side had his head turned, finishing up his conversation with whoever was in the house. Kurt made a frantic 'x' swishing movent to get Blaine's attention but it was too late to do anything but stare the man down as he turned to make his way out the door.

The man's look of shock shifted instantly into a wide smile, Kurt staring at him quizzically.

"Well if it isn't Robin Hood, now this has got to be an interesting story." The man said voice smarmy, crossing his arms and leaning against the door frame.

"Smythe." Blaine said, his voice laced with disgust.

"Won't you come in, wouldn't want to keep guests waiting on the front steps."

"What are you doing here?" Blaine bit out, stepping into the house just far enough for Smythe to close the door behind them.

"You mean at the house of my fiancée? Other than protecting her from the unwanted attention of men like you, nothing but enjoying the finest the Lopez family has to offer."

"Why is it I can never quite get away from you?"

"I think we both know you don't really want to."

"Speak for yourself Smythe, I came here to see Santana."

"Santana dear, you have guests." Smythe said in a cheery voice that didn't quite suit him, not turning away from Kurt and Blaine.

"One second Seb," came airily from somewhere in the house.

"You and Santana, what a fine pair." Blaine said crossing his arms.

"Shame I can't say the same of you and your new toy, really Blaine I'd have thought you could do better."

Kurt felt his cheeks redden as a wave of white hot anger coursed through him, how dare he.

"Its not like that." Blaine said seriously, his face stony.

"Who is this guy?" Kurt said angrily determined not to just stand there silently while they talked about him.

"An old _acquaintance," _Blaine said.

"But not that old," Sebastian cocked his head to the side, looking at Kurt, "theres something about you. Oh God, Blaine, you really shouldn't have, its him isn't it?

The boy you plotted to kidnap for all those weeks, you did it, you really fucking went through with it, turned him into a right old lap dog too, how long did it take until he begged you to fuck him?"

It happened so quickly, Kurt almost missed it, still gaping unbelieving at what Smythe had just said, when Blaine's fist connected with his face.

It seemed like an unimportant detail after the reality of what Smythe had just said started to set in. _Kidnap, he wanted to kidnap you! _Kurt's mind kept screaming at him. Kurt turned to look at Blaine, willing Blaine's face to show the same amount of shock Kurt's did, willing Blaine to deny it, but Blaine just looked, _broken. _Meeting Kurt's eyes with his own heart-broken ones, the silent shake of his head confirming everything, his guilt showing in every line of his face.

Santana burst into the room, "what the hell is going on in here?"

Sebastian shook off the effects of the punch, grinning at Blaine blearily, "oops, should I not have said that?"

"You." Santana tackled Blaine in one leap, locking her hands around Blaine's waist when he tried to twist and dodge out of her range, Santana bending her knees, the force of momentum sending Blaine pummeling backwards over her shoulder towards the floor. Kurt made a frantic step towards Blaine, his mind still spinning, no plan taking shape, helpless to do anything but watch as Sebastian latched his arms down firmly to his side. Blaine's head and shoulders made a horrible bang as they collided with the floor. Santana stood up unscathed and peered down at Blaine who murmured feebly and stilled.

"Something you want to tell me Santana?" Smythe asked.

Kurt screamed, the sound bouncing around loudly in the enclosed house, going on and on. Kurt's mind was a blur, telling himself over and over that it couldn't be true, Smythe was lying and Kurt had misread the look on Blaine's face, that Blaine would wake up any second and say it was some sick trick, nothing more. Kurt couldn't stop the onslaught of troubling thoughts as Smythe dragged him, half-hysterical through the house.

_But Blaine loved you. He had never said it though, it was all just part of some ruse._ Conflicting thoughts fighting for dominance in Kurt's mind. _But Blaine saved you, because he wanted you for himself. He said you were handsome, he watched you because he wanted something from you. _

The land. Kurt remembered it with a jolt. It couldn't really have all been about some stupid strip of land.

But the cliff, talking about his mother, the night at the waterfall, it had to be real, some of it had to be real, it just had to.

By the time Kurt's head could stop spinning long enough to think up an escape route he was on his side on the floor, feeling dust and grit under his cheek, hands tied behind his back and tied to a still unconscious Blaine. Kurt heard a door slam and he realized Santana and Sebastian had dragged them into a supply closet off the main hall, Kurt could smell dirty rags and cured meats, the stench mixing unpleasantly in his nose as he tried to make out anything about his surroundings in the pitch black.

Kurt let frustrated, angry tears fall into the darkness, tied up with the one person he wanted more than anything to run away from right now, with no prospect of being released any time soon. How had be been so stupid to trust someone he knew nothing about, why had he been so willing to let Blaine's lame excuse for watching him slide so easily. As mad as he was at Blaine, he was a million times angrier at himself, furious that he had let himself be so taken in with the first guy who looked at him twice.

And to top it all off he was still head over heals for him. Couldn't be quite as angry as he wanted to, because a certain part of him was too paralyzed with fear that Blaine would never wake up, to truly hate him. He dreaded having to hear his voice again, the excuses he'd make that would never be good enough for even _thinking _of kidnapping someone, of kidnapping _him. _The thought of never hearing his voice again unthinkable.

When Kurt couldn't stand the silence anymore he tried to nudge Blaine with his back, saying his name in a hoarse whisper over and over again to urge him awake. The fact that Blaine was the only person who could give him even the smallest comfort of companionship only adding insult to injury.

After who knew how long Blaine rustled and spoke, "what happened?" he asked groggily, and all the hatred Kurt had been holding back out of concern for Blaine's well being came rushing up to the surface. He wanted to kick and scream, wanted to yell at Blaine for what he had planned, for not telling him, for betraying his trust, but he couldn't bring himself to do it.

"Tell me its not true," he said quietly, "tell me you didn't plan on kidnapping me, tell me you didn't want that-" Kurt's voice broke "that _fucking _land so badly you wanted to ransom me."

"Kurt." Blaine said, his voice so full of regret it hurt to hear it. "Kurt I'm sorry."

Kurt heard it in the darkness. "No, no you don't get to be sorry," Kurt said, the ridiculousness of the situation washing over him, the fact that he couldn't see his face was driving him insane, "how could you, how could you Blaine?"

"I didn't Kurt, I swear, I decided I wasn't going to go through with it."

"But you were going to?"

Blaine was silent.

"You were going to. Say it!"

"Yes, ok, yes I seriously considered it and I feel awful about it, I always felt awful about it, but we were desperate, we needed something, something big, the guys were getting so frustrated, we just couldn't do anything, we were so powerless."

"Don't, just don't, I don't want to hear it."

"I'm so sorry."

"When? When did you change your mind."

Blaine groaned.

"When!"

"It was during the attack, I saw those men, hurting you, and I realized I was becoming like them, I didn't want that, thats never what I wanted."

"God Blaine." That day, that day they had met, he had thought it, had planned to go through with it. It was too much, Kurt's eyes were heavy with tears but he couldn't wipe them away. "I trusted you, I trusted you with my life." Kurt said quietly, the truth of it making him angrier than he already was.

"I know. I know Kurt, I never deserved you, not for one second. But there you were so open and trusting and I tried to tell you once, but I couldn't, I knew it would ruin everything, knew you'd never talk to me again, and I couldn't lose you, but I know, Kurt, I know you deserve better."

"Just stop talking." Kurt said, miserable. He had to think, but the only thing he could think about was getting far far away from Blaine. "Lets just focus on getting out of here."

Kurt felt Blaine wiggling behind him, "can you try to sit up?"

"Can you?" Kurt bit back.

"We're gonna have to do it at the same time."

"Fine...now."

Kurt and Blaine both flopped pathetically like fish on dry land, until they finally managed to coincide their efforts to sit up, with their knees bent in front of them they managed to sit back to back, their hands uselessly pinned between them.

"Now what?"

Kurt exhaled sharply, "I don't know, you're the one that got us into this, don't you have some brilliant plan for getting us out in the event that a girl would knock you out and tie us up?"

"Ok just try to stand up."

Blaine used his knees to force himself up and back, which only resulted in pushing Kurt over, his forehead bumping his knees.

"Christ Blaine, what was that supposed to achieve."

"You have to push at the same time."

Kurt pushed back, harder than he would have strictly needed but felt Blaine pushing back all the same, their combined efforts getting them to their feet.

"That wasn't so bad." Blaine said as he shuffled around in a circle, Kurt trailing behind him as Blaine whirled, evidently hoping an escape plan would reveal itself in the darkness.

"Slow down, if I go down we both do."

Blaine exhaled sharply through his nose and Kurt resisted the urge to slam Blaine against the wall until he passed out again. But when Blaine finally spoke his voice had returned to that broken one, if anything even more miserable than before. "Ok. So your hands are tied right?"

"Yes." Kurt said letting exasperation creep into his voice.

"And we're tied together over top of that right, like at the elbow?"

"Thats what if feels like, I was kind of distracted during the actual process."

"Try putting your hands as close to mine as you can, I'm gonna see if I can get the knot undone." Kurt did his best to maneuver his hands as close as possible to Blaine's, the feeling of Blaine's prodding fingers sending little shivers of anger through him. Kurt tried to stay still, fighting down the instinct to try and just writhe himself free but he knew that was impossible. Kurt felt his palms grow sweaty as Blaine grunted and swore behind him, intent on his work.

After what seemed like an eternity Kurt felt his bonds loosen, with a little frantic wiggling the ropes fell to the floor.

"Ok now mine."

It didn't take Kurt too long to find Blaine's knot, working at it hurt his fingers but he was fast, having the advantage of free hands, the ropes at his elbows not doing too much to restrict his movement. He heard Blaine's ropes drop to the floor and knew he had managed to loose him, now it was just a matter of getting the rope around their elbows off.

"Shit, someone's coming. Get down!"

Against every better judgment he had Kurt let himself fall to the ground with Blaine, lying quickly on their sides, the discarded ropes hidden beneath their bodies.

"Cry or something so it doesn't look suspicious," Blaine whispered just before the door opened. Kurt rolled his eyes before shutting them tight, summoning a fake sniffle.

The door clicked shut a moment later and Kurt felt Blaine relax behind him.

"Wait don't try to sit up yet," Kurt said struck with an idea, "do you think we could like, shimmy out of the ropes like this?"

"Its worth a try."

With a great amount of writhing and shimmying Kurt felt the ropes slip a half inch closer to their wrists. After another inch Kurt managed to grab a long end of rope and pull the cursed thing off completely.

Getting quickly to his feet and rubbing his wrists in relief Kurt found himself face to face with Blaine.

Blaine dropped his head immediately, when he spoke it was directed at Kurt's boots.

"I'll get you out of here, I promise, and then you never have to see me again."

There was a goodbye on Kurt's lips that he couldn't quite say, because everything was rushing back, the joy and the fleeting, jumpy moments, the doubt and the very opposite of doubt, something kind of like love. And it wasn't fair that he had to say goodbye to what felt like the only chance he'd ever have for it. Wasn't fair that Blaine had to go and ruin all that, before they had even met.

* * *

Thanks for reading! Up next, more action while Kurt and Blaine continue their attempt to escape the Lopez mansion.


	13. Chapter 13

Violence warnings for this chapter: general violence, blood, near death experience (?)

* * *

Before Kurt could say anything in response the door opened again, Smythe's face appearing in the sliver of light. Without pausing to think, Kurt drew back his fist and brought it hard across Sebastian's face, the smashing noise of flesh hitting flesh surprising Kurt more than the flare of pain across his knuckles. He watched Smythe take several stumbling steps back before he thought to block his counter-attack. Blaine moved faster, grabbing Sebastian with a fist full of his clothes and launching him headfirst into the closet, slamming the door shut behind him and keeping it closed with the weight of his body, even as Sebastian slammed and yelled on the other side.

"Run!"

Kurt took one lunging leap towards the front door before thinking better of it, spinning ridiculously mid step and coming back to Blaine.

"No."

"What?"

"No, you don't get to save me again! I came here with you out of my own stupidity and I'll be damned if I can't get myself out of here on my own, without any help from _you_."

Pulling the knife he'd kept in his belt ever since Blaine gave it to him Kurt shoved a still shocked and pliant Blaine out of the way. Smythe stumbled onto his face in the hall, Kurt wasting no time in straddling his chest, holding his knife threateningly over Smythe's face.

"Scream again and lose an eye, Sebby."

"Kurt?" Blaine said above him.

Kurt ignored him, his threat worked, Smythe's mouth clamped tight, his eyes darting back and forth between Kurt's face and his knife.

"Ok Blaine, now _you_ run."

"What?" Blaine squawked.

It made sense in some capacity in Kurt's mind, or it had a second ago anyway. "Thats right, I get to rescue you now."

Blaine didn't move.

"Just go!" Kurt said furiously.

Blaine lunged at Kurt, pulling him bodily off Smythe by the collar of his shirt, muttering something about being ridiculous, before Kurt's feet returned to the ground. Smythe was rubbing warily at his eyes, like he couldn't quite be certain he still had them both, getting to his feet much quicker than what Kurt would have liked. Without another word Kurt and Blaine sprinted to the front door.

They almost fell over each other at the door when Blaine tried to shove Kurt through ahead of him, Kurt trying to step aside and let Blaine through first at the same time. They ended up squeezing through the door at once, just as an arrow landed with a thunk in the door frame just inches from them. Kurt turned back to see Santana aiming a crossbow from the landing of the stairs.

Kurt looked wildly to the woods, the safety of the trees seemed impossibly far away, they had an entire hill to climb down before they got there, Santana and Smythe surely right behind them.

Blaine threw himself on the ground catching his weight on his hands and pushing himself over so that he rolled in a tight line down the hill, Kurt thought he heard something like 'faster this way' and didn't argue, launching himself after him.

As it turned out, rolling down an incline isn't much more efficient than running down it. In an instant Santana was on them, she ran along side them a few paces, screaming, before Kurt caught a fractured glimpse of her catapulting herself at Blaine, the two of them rolling on top of one another a few feet. It wasn't a pretty sight, both of them scratching blindly at skin, tugging on clothes and hair, screaming unintelligibly at the top of their lungs.

Kurt managed to stop the momentum of his rolling, getting shakily to his feet and walking a very crooked line towards the scrabbling pair as fast as his dizzied mind would allow. He managed to pull Santana off of Blaine, holding her around the waist while she struggled to get at him again.

"Wait, can we just talk about this for a minute?" Kurt blurted out when Santana made to lurch at Blaine again as he got to his feet, desperate to make some sense of the fight he had gotten himself in the middle of. Santana's whole body was shuddering, alarmed, Kurt realized she was sobbing.

"What the hell?" Kurt muttered before realizing that wasn't the most comforting way to start a conversation. "Are you ok?"

Santana was still staring at Blaine, livid. It struck Kurt as more than just anger over some stolen jewels. A look at Blaine confirmed it, Blaine watching Santana, looking lost and guilt ridden, blood on his cheek from where she had scratched him, the neck of his shirt stretched and hanging loose from her pulling at it. "How long have you known?" Blaine asked quietly. It wasn't what Kurt expected to hear, gaping at Blaine and waiting for an explanation.

Kurt felt Santana's breathing deepen and realized he was still holding her tightly around the waist, letting her ago immediately and taking a step back.

"Known what?" It was painfully obvious Kurt was missing something.

Santana and Blaine chose to ignore the question. "Ever since you took his box I had a pretty good idea of it, it was foolish of you, he wouldn't have told anyone about that box, except, of course, for Blaine."

_Blaine, _his name sounded strange on her lips and suddenly it clicked, Santana had known him from before.

"Once the idea was in my head it was hard to miss the resemblance between the lost boy and my pesky problem of a thief. You've done a fine job re-making yourself though, I'm not surprised no one else has caught on. Timid little Blaine, always so uncertain, frightened of his own shadow, never speaking up for himself, no one ever doubted that you perished along with _him_ that night. No one thought twice about the way the wiry dark haired stranger bore an uncanny resemblance to the late young master Anderson. I didn't believe it myself until I saw you with him," Santana pointed a finger at Kurt, it felt like an accusation. "For the briefest second I thought he was Jonathan. How could I? When I saw them bury his broken body but still I thought it, but it was enough to know beyond a doubt Robin Hood was actually long lost Blaine Anderson, that he, that _you_, had survived."

"I don't understand," Kurt said, the tension filled conversation was getting to him, he'd heard too much today, everything was getting mixed up, Kurt was trying vaguely to match up Santana's story with the fractured bits he knew about Blaine's past, the idyllic life he had left, the childhood friend he never mentioned by name, the scar on his side.

"He died because of you Blaine! My sweet brother sneaking around at night. He wouldn't have been there, he would have been safe, but he was seeing YOU! He died to save you. YOU KILLED HIM!"

Blaine had his face hidden in his hands, Kurt could tell he was crying, his shoulders shook as he muttered, "I know, I know, I'm sorry,"

"Sorry doesn't bring him back." Santana snapped.

When Blaine spoke again his voice was low and measured. "I loved him too you know."

Santana looked like she wasn't ready to stop being angry, she shook slightly, her hands balling into fists, the movement drew Blaine's eyes. "What do you want Santana? Revenge? You want to hurt me, you want to kill me?" Blaine said, he sounded ruined, scrabbling at Kurt's belt for the knife there and placing it firmly in Santana's hand, "then do it," he said with a snarl. "Do it if it will make you feel better, it doesn't matter anymore."

There was a heavy pause where Kurt's mind skipped insanely in a thousand different directions, his mouth gaping open as he tried to form words. Kurt saw the way Santana's knuckles were turning white from her grip on her knife, _his _knife, and God she looked furious and crazed and Blaine kind of looked the same way and how the _hell _had he gotten in the middle of this but just "STOP! Stop, stop. Are you all insane?" Then Santana's lip twisted into a sick smirk and God that couldn't possibly be good.

Santana lurched at Kurt, in an instant she had the knife up at his throat, her arm around his chest. Kurt didn't dare move, feeling the edge of the blade digging into his skin.

"What do you think Blaine, his life for Jon's?"

"No," it was barely more than a whisper. "No! I swear to God Santana, leave him alone, Kurt has nothing to do with this!"

"But you love him don't you? I can tell. Still dragging the people you care about down with you. Won't you ever learn?"

"Santana! Please." Blaine's voice broke, but there was nothing he could do.

Kurt felt the knife dig a little dipper, a warm trickle of blood tickling down his throat. He didn't think to plead, didn't think to beg or reason for his freedom. A numb awareness that this was the end settled over him, blocking everything else out, a grey, comforting haze. Thinking vaguely that he should be panicking, a jolt of pain for how distraught his father would be and he let the grey take over.

He looked at Blaine, who didn't look right, not with his eyes wide and panicked, Kurt pulling up an images of Blaine smiling at him instead, the way he had stared, wondrous, after they kissed at the waterfall, what it felt like to wake up next to him. It seemed absurd to think that he would never see him smile again, yet here he was at the end, that simple fact was rather freeing, freeing enough that Kurt gave Blaine a very small sad smile.

Kurt understood he didn't really care. Didn't care about why they met, decided it didn't really matter that Blaine had made horrible plans that he never fulfilled, didn't care that Blaine's adventures would be the death of him. He'd lived more at Blaine's side than he had the rest of his short life and he realized the last gift he could give him in return was some small peace of mind.

"I love you Blaine, and I forgive you, for everything." Kurt closed his eyes and waited.

It could have been seconds, or hours, Kurt was lost in dark timeless space. Waiting.

What he didn't expect was a hard shove on his back, the unexpected force sending him sprawling to the ground, his cheek and palms against scratchy grass, feeling the concrete reality of the ground, there was a light sting at his throat but he was very much alive, the knife falling with a light thump at his side. "I want it back. You have until dusk tomorrow."

Kurt pushed himself out of the grass, far enough to see Santana stalking back up the hill, the image put him in mind of a madwoman, flyaway hair, the sleeve of her dress ripped nearly completely off, her skirt billowing in a light breeze that lifted the hair off Kurt's forehead, it smelled like a storm.

Blaine was at his side, his hand tentative on his back and Kurt knew instinctively he was watching Santana as well, neither of them saying anything for a long time.

Finally, Kurt pulled himself up until he was sitting crisscross, Blaine looked beyond frazzled, his eyes darting wildly all over Kurt.

"What. the. hell." Kurt murmured.

Blaine gurgled out an exhausted laugh. "That didn't exactly go as I had planned."

"You don't say."

Blaine scooted a half inch closer to Kurt, his hand hovering near his neck, "are you alright?"

Kurt swatted his hand away, touching the stinging cut in his neck, his fingers came away bloody but it didn't feel deep.

"Its nothing."

Blaine looked relieved, "I shouldn't have brought you here Kurt, that was more than stupid. I didn't think Santana knew, didn't think she'd be so angry, its not the first time curiosity has gotten the better of me."

"I can think for myself."

"I know you can."

"At least you know what she was after now."

"I guess, though to be honest I don't know if Santana even knew what she was doing, having people look for me."

"Grief does strange things to people."

Another long pause before, "I mean what I said when, well when I thought Santana was going to kill me." Blaine was watching him like he was about to reveal the secrets of the universe and he had to clear his throat before he could continue. "But I'm going to need some time, before, before I can see you. Can you understand that?"

"Of course, of course," Blaine hand's were restless, and Kurt knew he wanted to touch him but was holding back, "whatever you need. I'll wait for you, as long as it takes."

"I don't really want to talk anymore."

"Thats fine Kurt."

"But I want to know. You and Sebastian are finished?"

"Completely."

"And, um with Jonathan, I don't need to know what happened, you can tell me when you're ready, but..."

"You're wondering if I'm still in love with him? "

Kurt nodded, not looking at Blaine.

"Jonathan was my best friend, but we were never lovers."

Kurt nodded feeling distinctly awkward, but he needed to know. "Ok. Ok Thanks." Kurt got shakily to his feet. "I'll go then. I know how to get home from here."

Blaine gave him a small smile, Kurt starting to walk away.

"I'm sorry. For what happened to him." He hoped it was enough for Blaine to know what he meant, he couldn't say more.

"Thank you. And thank you for not giving up on me, you don't know what that means to me."

"I wouldn't do it for anyone else."

"I- I love you too. You know that right?"

Kurt nodded, there was nothing else to say, not now, and walked away.

It started raining before Kurt was halfway back to the manor, by the time he let himself in, he was drenched, his clothes sticking to his skin, the tears he'd been holding in for what seemed like hours mingling with the rain as he let go.


	14. Chapter 14

AN: I know its been forever and I did exactly what I told myself I wouldn't do and took an unplanned hiatus from this fic. Hopefully it'll turn out the better for it. If you've stuck around, thank you for reading!

* * *

Kurt wasn't miserable, but he wasn't exactly great either. The cheeriness of the Hummel house serving as a painful contrast to his own melancholy, Kurt found himself seeking the quiet refuge of his room on more than a few days. Thinking about Blaine hurt, not thinking about him hurt just as much. And as much as he tried to focus on himself and what he wanted, he couldn't help thinking that a part of him would always be out in the woods, with Blaine.

So Kurt went through the motions of life. Made chit chat with the Hudson's at dinner, helped Puck with chores during the day, had stilted conversation with his father at night, even managed a few short hunting trips, but none of it seemed quite right.

Until it was.

Slowly a sense of normalcy settled over him. He was ok. He was fine. He didn't need Blaine, not really, didn't _need_ to run away to the woods to see him. He could go on like this. He could stay here in the house he was born in and live out the rest of his days the way he was meant to.

He could.

But he didn't want to.

He wanted to see Blaine again. Wanted to spend day after day with him in the strange, freeing-wild of the forest. Wanted it with a fierce intensity he had never known before. So when the Hudson's and his father finally made their departure for the Hudson Estate, Kurt seeing them off with warm wishes, he decided he was ready to go back, back to the woods, back to Blaine.

With directions for Puck to do what he wanted as long as the house was maintained Kurt headed into the woods, a tight bundle of wary excitement and nervous anticipation wound around his heart.

It had rained earlier in the day. Little droplets of water clinging to the tree branches, sending light into fractured, shimmering pieces; puddles on the muddy path, the bark of the trees a shade darker with moisture. It messed with Kurt's mind, sending it back to pieced together flashbacks from the last time he saw Blaine. Leaves had started to change color and fall by now, just some of them, but enough to make the landscape markedly different. Kurt wondered how long it had been, he'd sort of lost track of time. But it was good, being in the woods, it sent a familiar warmth through his heart he hadn't had since he'd been home, helped him remember the Blaine he knew, _his _Blaine.

Kurt found the trail to camp easily, taking his time as memories flickered through his mind at the spots he had passed with Blaine. He was at the tree before he knew it. Approaching the ivy covered door, his heart beating rapidly. He couldn't quite determine why he was so nervous, except that it felt a little bit like starting over. Like he had to make a brand new first impression.

Kurt frowned at the camaflouge of greenery, some of the leaves turning an obvious brown, standing out against the expanse of still lush green life, the make-shift door easier to spot.

Kurt let himself through, squeezing through the gap in the rocks and looking up to find himself facing a longbow aimed directly at him. The weapon lowered quickly to reveal a very shocked Blaine.

"Kurt..."

Blaine's face was etched with disbelief, he looked worse off than Kurt had remembered, dark circles under his eyes, the features of his face gaunter, clothes hanging loosely.

"You came back." Blaine muttered like he still couldn't believe it, and it _hurt, _seeing Blaine like that.

"Of course." Kurt said managing a small smile. "I said I would didn't I?"

"I- I thought... after... I thought I might never see you again."

Kurt closed the space between them, folding his arms tightly around Blaine and holding him close, his chin resting on his shoulder. He felt Blaine's chest shudder against him as he choked out a sob. "I'm never saying goodbye to you," Kurt whispered.

"I'm sorry Kurt. Please, I'm so-"

"Shh. Blaine, it, its, well its not ok. But _we_ will be. Its alright, we can, we can move on from this and we'll be fine."

Blaine pulled back enough to look at Kurt's face and Kurt didn't mind staring back at Blaine, drinking up the features he hadn't seen for weeks, taking in his wide glistening eyes.

"I really don't deserve you."

"Don't say that. Theres no where else I'd rather be than right here."

Blaine smiled, genuine and vulnerable.

Kurt took him by surprise, leaning in so fast to kiss those smiling lips their teeth clanked painfully. Blaine laughed, just a little, and Kurt knew he was right, they would be ok.

They were disrupted by voices, carrying loud and cheerful into the clearing, the pair springing apart as Wes and David strode into the camp.

"Kurt!" Wes called.

"Well I'll be damned, Kurt Hummel has made an appearance. You certainly took long enough Blaine's been nothing but a force of channelled ennui since you left," David added, tapping Blaine's cheek in a not altogether affectionate way.

"Its been practically unbearable."

"Um, hey guys." Kurt mumbled, not sure what to think of the flush that had creeped into his cheeks.

"Nice to see you again." Wes said warmly

"Honestly, the way this guy can mope, Kitty would make better company."

Kurt's eyes shifted to Blaine, picking uncomfortably at the hem of his shirt while David and Wes teased, taking a moment to collect himself before he said. "Ok, enough guys, seriously," Blaine said.

Blaine's eyes met Kurt's looking guilty a beat longer before Kurt gave him a certain smile.

"What do you say we get away from these assholes for a bit?" Blaine cocked his head vaguely at the woods beyond the clearing his go-to smirk lighting up his eyes, Kurt's heart clenched rather painfully, he'd missed that stupid smirk.

Kurt grabbed his hand, pulling hard towards the gap, "not soon enough." They scrabbled back through the wall of stone together, hands grasped as soon as they had cleared the other side.

Kurt slid on rain slicked leaves when Blaine gave a tug to his hand as he made a sharp turn, Kurt nearly pulling Blaine down with him before he managed to regain his footing through a burst of laughter. It sent Blaine giggling, eyes scrunching up in laughter. Kurt all the sudden heady with the feel of falling back into KurtandBlaine.

"Oh my God you are such a klutz," Blaine said warmly.

"Oh yeah?"

Kurt wound his arms tight around Blaine's waist, pulling them both down into wet mud, leaves and grass. Kurt all but shrieking in laughter has Blaine's chuckles turned into full laughs as he scrabbled at Kurt's hands holding him captive.

"What a jerk," Blaine muttered, when their laughter had died down, leaning close, eyes trained on Kurt's lips. Kurt's fingers winding through Blaine's hair before he kissed Blaine quick and dry. Pulling him quickly to his feat while his eyes were still closed.

"Hey," Blaine whined, leaning close again, angled for a kiss.

"What? You called me a jerk. Come on."

They moved quickly hands tugged this way and that as they maneuvered narrow paths together, never breaking apart as they slipped and slid over slick ground, everything smelling rain-new. Kurt vaguely aware they were headed towards the river. Their conversation kept firmly in the giddy and ridiculous.

"I missed this." Kurt said, thoughtful, when they had finally slowed down, let the quiet of the woods seep into them, Kurt pulling their entwined fingers up to his face to kiss where their fingers slotted together, Blaine's tanned fingers striped with Kurt's paler ones.

"I missed _you."_

"Well that too." Kurt smiled, there was still a hint of sadness in the way Blaine's eyes were set.

"Come here."

Kurt pulled him close, wrapping his arms tights behind his back. It felt so right, standing like that chest to chest, feeling Blaine's warmth radiate through him, everything close and warm. A beat, and Kurt felt Blaine relax into his hold, leaned his head into Kurt's shoulder with a happy sigh.

They kissed slow and drawn out, all sweet hesitancy, exploring and testing, their hands relearning every curve, searching out the actions that would elicit moans, sinking into each other. A forgotten energy re-surging through Kurt's veins.

"Kurt..." Blaine all but whined into his mouth.

"Shhh."

They pulled apart to rest against each other, rough breathing loud in the quiet space.

"Need-"

"More, yeah I know."

"Do you trust me?"

Kurt wouldn't have come back if he didn't, he knew that. There was something about him, something about Blaine and Blaine alone that he felt certain he could trust him again where with anyone else it would have been over.

"Yes."

Blaine's fingers clutched in the back of Kurt's shirt, holding him closer if that was even possible at this point.

"So you'd better have some kind of adventure up your sleeve because I didn't come back just to let you suck my face off in the middle of nowhere."

"And here I was thinking you just came back for me." Blaine teased.

"Yeah well that might have played a small part," Kurt whispered into his neck, sucking at the spot where neck met shoulder, hips snapping forward on their own at the way Blaine groaned and tilted his neck to expose his neck further to Kurt. Kurt walking him backwards until they collided with a tree. Hand roving up Blaine's shirt while his tongue teased at his ear, Blaine's hands firm on his hips pulling him closer. Hardness obvious between them as speed picked up with pants and heavy groans. Their kissing turning sloppy and dirty too much, tongue and teeth, all messy need.

Kurt rutted agasint Blaine, the friction to his cock through their layers of clothes sending hot waves up his spine. Blaine thrusting forward to meet him, sweat beading about the collar of his shirt.

"Kurt, I want, let me go down on you."

"Ngn."

"Yes?"

"In the middle of the woods?"

"No one'll see, like you said, middle of the woods." Blaine winked with smirk.

"Yes, ok, God Blaine." Kurt got out, mind buzzing with numb thrill at the idea of what Blaine suggested.

Blaine worked his pants down low over his hips, palming over his cock, breath hot on Kurt's neck.

"What do I...?"

"Do?" Blaine got out with a laugh.

Kurt felt his cheeks redden but Blaine was smiling, amused.

"I forgot how blushing innocent you are."

"Why do I get the feeling you're going to corrupt me?"

Blaine chuckled applying more pressure to Kurt's cock, tongue darting out to wet his lips and sending a shiver through Kurt's frame.

"You could start by laying down and getting comfortable."

"Right, yeah, ok"

Kurt sat down leaning back on his elbows and feeling supremely awkward with his pants pulled down and his cock curling up towards his stomach. But then Blaine was pulling his pants down to his knee and kissing his way up his thigh with breathy open mouthed kisses, warm fire on his sensitive skin. Kurt already shaking when Blaine left a kiss at the crease of his thigh and shuffled Kurt's knees up and apart and settled between them with a dopey smile up at Kurt.

Kurt pretty much lost it the moment Blaine took his cock into the wet-heat of his mouth. Heels scrabbling on the ground, with the feel of Blaine's tongue swiping down his cock, lips stretched around him.

"Shit, oh my God, its so...warm"

Blaine chuckled, the vibrations sending pleasure through Kurt's cock and he dropped fully on his back with a groan, hand fisting in his own hair at the overwhelming sensation of Blaine's tongue splayed flat over his cock, twisting up and down has length as he bobbed his head.

"Blaine, hng!"

Kurt came with a flick of Blaine's tongue over his slit all but arching off the ground as Blaine sucked him through his high. Blaine crawling over him to smile down at Kurt. "You ok there?"

Kurt nodded breathlessly. Perching uneasily back up on his elbows. Kurt buzzed at the taste of come in Blaine's mouth when their lips met, the kiss sloppy with their hands occupied in holding them up until Kurt flopped back down to the ground and Blaine followed him, comfortable weight covering Kurt's frame.

-  
Kurt blinked at moisture on his forehead. Heavy drops on his eyelids. Wetness seeping slowly into his clothes.

"Its raining."

"I noticed," Blaine answered.

"Kind of hard."

The rain picked up, falling hard enough to make them blink it hard out of their eyes, start to run hunched over towards cover.

They weren't that far from the little cave behind the waterfall, the pair panting from exertion and soaking wet by the time they burst into the little alcove of rock, the sound of rain heavy around them, shivering from the slight chill.

They ended up just talking, huddled together, wet and slightly miserable. The curious sound of pounding water from the waterfall layered heavy rain a background accompaniment to their quiet voices.

They'd started to dry out, barely, when Kurt broke a heavy lull in conversation. "How are things with Santana?"

"Fine, actually. Good really. I went the next day with Jon's chest, after... She kind of broke down and cried again but um we actually talked, and it was actually kind of nice. Jon kept memories in that box, well symbols of memories, it was nice just to talk about him to someone who knew him. We've talked a few times since even.

"Thats good," Kurt answered, hiding his surprise that he and Santana had somehow established an uneasy reconciliation, Kurt wondered what else he had missed in his absence, "thats really good. So she's not like, trying to kidnap and torture you for revenge or anything, quite the improvement."

"No. I think we're ok on that front. Santana can be rather, _passionate _at times, but I think she just needed to get it out of her system.

Kurt hurrumphed.

"I had to promise not to steal from her anymore though, its kind of put a bit of a damper on the charity to be honest."

"The charity eh? Sounds so official."

"Yeah well."

"Why did you steal from her the first place? I mean, your friends family..."

"Jonathan always wanted to do something like I'm doing now. Well maybe not exactly, maybe not running away and hiding in the woods, but he wanted to help people, he just didn't know how."

"Is that why you started."

"Its complicated."

A beat.

"What happened that night?"

Blaine looked at him sideways for a second before turning back to the path. "It was, uh, I don't, don't really talk about it, it was bad. Santana was right about one thing though," Blaine's voice quieted to a whisper, acquired a darker edge, "its my fault he died, he, he told me to run and I did. Just barely made it all the same, an arrow grazed my side, took months to heal,."

"The scar," Kurt says almost to himself, a ghost memory on his fingertip of gliding over gnarled skin.

"I just ran away and left him, Kurt. He died alone." Blaine's voice broke, looking miserable all over again and Kurt wanted to say something to assure him, convince him it wasn't his fault, that if he hadn't have run they both would have died and what was the point in that, but he stayed silent, knowing he couldn't say anything that Blaine hadn't already told himself.

"But yeah, that night, I realized, I couldn't just go back home and live that life of entitlement again, not when Jon had... so I... It all started stealing from his family actually, knowing it was what he would have wanted, providing for the poor. After a while I figured, if it was ok to steal from them why not others? It felt like the right thing to do."

Kurt nodded his understanding, drawing a little closer to Blaine in the lingering chill.

"Do you ever think about the future, stopping all this, moving away somewhere and starting over with an honest job, getting married?" It felt quieter, the rain slowed to a drizzle, Kurt's whisper loud in his ears.

Blaine cocked his head to the side, studying Kurt, before he replied lightly.

"What, settle down with some frumpy farmer's daughter?"

"Nothing wrong with that, if it makes you happy."

"Nah, I can't see it." Blaine shook his head, stretching out his arms.

"What _do_ you see?"

"Taking it one day at a time."

"What about you Kurt?" Kurt noticed Blaine couldn't keep an edge of seriousness from creeping into his voice at the question.

"One day at a time seems pretty good."

* * *

Coming soon: A trial in Nottingham has Blaine and his men forming an elaborate plan to ensure an innocent citizen doesn't come to harm, but their intercession could affect more than they bargained for.


	15. Chapter 15

It was like falling back into a life he should have been living all along. Lazy days all meshing together in a kaleidoscope of effortless summer; entire days spent hunting, trekking to obscure corners of the forest, swimming in the stream- speckled light shining on clear water and Blaine's open face, for a time nothing to occupy their thoughts but each other. Freedom and joy and love and and Kurt couldn't believe how lucky he was, like living a dream. Kurt wished he could scoop up those happy moments and keep them safe in his chest for always, their happiness brighter and more perfect because he had no idea when it might end.

Blaine kept their 'adventures' to a minimum, a few carriages- halted and 'taxed,' the odd robbery of isolated mansions in the middle of the night, but Kurt couldn't help thinking that Blaine was nervous, more on edge than he had been before.

It didn't help that his men kept coming in with report's about Kitty's increasingly erratic behavior; the manic, dangerous edge to her actions becoming ever more clear.

"She won't stop until she's caught you," David, face etched with worry in the twilight, hunched over a camp fire of cooking meet, shadows playing across his face.

"We don't know that." Kurt said defensively, too quickly, David raising an eyebrow at him. Blaine just sighed, looking sullen.

"Is it getting worse?" Kurt asked.

"She's got a massive price on his head, she'll pay for any scrap of information people can give. The people's loyalty to you can only go so far, they'll cave to the temptation, its only a matter of time, we can't expect them to turn down that kind of security."

"As long as the camp is kept secret," Blaine intoned.

"I'm afraid its only a matter of time before she takes this obsession she has with you out on people in the village," David said.

"She wouldn't do that," Kurt said, side eyeing Blaine as his face drew tighter in concern. He wouldn't forgive himself for anyone coming to harm because of him.

"Its Kitty, we have no idea what she could do," David said.

Blaine shivered, drawing Kurt's attention to the chill of the night, the bite of autumn in the air.

"You might have to consider moving on Blaine." David said it softly, like he didn't want to believe the truth of what he was saying. Kurt's fingers convulsed where they were wrapped around his elbows. Blaine, moving on, leaving Nottingham. And he knew, he _knew _their time together was bound to have an expiration date in one form or another but he didn't want to think about Blaine leaving, didn't want to think about just going home, alone, while Blaine disappeared from his life.

"I won't leave, not when- not when I haven't even really _done _anything not when..." Blaine drifted into silence his eyes on Kurt.

"You might not have a choice."

"Enough of this," Blaine said suddenly dismissive, getting to his feet and brushing dirt from his pants, "we haven't been out of the woods in weeks."

"The pub is calling to me boys," Blaine added with forced cheer, the tone ringing wrong after their tense conversation.

Kurt jumped to his feet letting his elbow brush against Blaine's as he stood. The two of them waiting for a response from David.

"You two go, I have meat to roast," David said pointing down at his spit, "Wes left a while ago though, he's probably still there."

Kurt twined their fingers together as soon as they were outside of the camp, walking quickly through the growing dark to the village.

Kurt stopped them at the edge of the forest line. Pulling Blaine into a dark grove and giving him a fierce kiss, the heavy stillness of the forest like a pleasant weight in the air around them.

"What was that for?" Blaine asked dazedly once they'd surfaced.

"Do I need a reason to kiss you?"

"No," Blaine shook his head smiling. "So it doesn't have anything to do with what David said? Because I'm not leaving. I won't leave you."

"Thats very flattering and all but, um, Kurt toyed with where their fingers were laced together, using his other hand to trace along Blaine's knuckles, "I was thinking, that if you did go, maybe- maybe I would go with you."

Blaine's mouth opened into a little 'o' eyes wide, "you- you would leave, to come with me?"

"Blaine theres nothing I've ever actively wanted for my life. I had a set of expectations, I knew what my life would probably be like and I accepted that because I thought thats what people did, but then you come along and I see what it means to- to deeply love and what that can mean, and God I'm not making any sense."

"Yes you are."

"Am I? Its just, I think, that this," Kurt looked at their entwined fingers, "what we have, God, _you. _Its, you're worth changing things around for. Like just loving you is _more _than anything else my life could have been."

Blaine leaned down to kiss at where their fingers were intertwined bringing their hands between their chests and resting his forehead against Kurt's. When he spoke it was very quietly. "We've never said it, on our own terms."

'I love you.' Kurt knew immediately what he meant. "I was afraid to," it had taken fear of death the first time.

"Me too. Its not supposed to feel like this."

"This real?"

"Something like that."

"But it does."

"It does." Blaine pulled back, his face vague in the darkness. "I love you."

"I love you, too."

Then Blaine laughed, the kind that bubbled up out of him like he couldn't contain the joy in the confines of his body. "I'm the luckiest man in the world," Blaine said, too loudly in the quiet, giddy almost, face lighting up with his smile, and even in the dim light Kurt could see the lines scrunching up around his eyes. "Come on, I think we have a grimy pub to get to."

'Grimy' was putting it nicely. It was the same hole in the wall place they had shortcutted through that first day in the village, dark and dingy- the whole place smelling like stale alcohol and stale body odor.

"Its the only place Kitty's people won't go to," Blaine said apologetically, accepting drinks from the toothless bar maid and sitting down at a table with a slightly off balance Wes.

"It has a certain rough charm to it I suppose," Kurt answered with a forced smile, brushing a dead spider off his chair at their corner table.

They were barely in their seats when a slippery, too-familiar voice greeted them, "evening boys, didn't expect to see you two out and about."

Smythe, helping himself to a place at their table with a grin on his face, splotches of color high on his cheeks. "Finally getting a little stir crazy holed up in the woods are we?" Smythe sat his tankard down with a thump, sloshing ale all over the table.

"Smythe," Blaine sighed, resigned "why don't you just announce to the whole tavern who I am while you're at it."

"As if anyone in here gives a fuck who you are."

"Just go, Smythe. Santana and I have made peace, she won't like you stirring up trouble with me."

"Why so formal? Sebastian, please. Granted you telling me I could call you Robin doesn't mean quite what it did at the time, still, you act like we've never-"

"Sebastian," Blaine cut in like a warning.

"And anyway who says I'm making trouble? Besides Santana doesn't own me."

"No, just her father does, is the family gold worth being squished under his thumb?" Kurt bit out, he didn't like the way anger was surging up in his chest at just the sight of Sebastian.

"Aww you two discuss my personal life when I'm not around, I'm flattered."

"What are you even doing at this dump?"

"The barmaid's son likes it up the ass"

"_God, what _did I ever see in you."

"I seem to recall it being something along those lines..."

"Just get out before I force you out."

Sebastian sunk a little lower in his chair, tilting back his tankard like a taunt.

Things might have gotten bad if at that moment Santana hadn't slammed her palm down onto the wooden table sloshing ale all over the place yet again, the men spluttering as they steadied their drinks.

"Blaine, you fucking bastard."

"Wh-"

"Brittany. Kitty's got her for stealing from Lord Tubbington. Did you hear me? Arrested. For stealing. Do you need me to repeat myself _Hood_?

Kurt could all but see the blood drain from Blaine's face, Blaine scrubbing his hand across his face before he got to his feet. "Oh God, I- I'll fix this, I promise, don't worry, I'll fix it."

"Damn right you'll fix it, Brittany's innocent!"

"Calm down." Kurt said, placing his hand gently on Santana's shoulder while more than a few of the pub's unsavory occupants turned to look at them.

"Don't touch me!" Santana roared, jerking out of Kurt's reach, before swiping beneath her eyes, "what are you going to do Blaine?"

"I- I don't know I just need to think," Blaine muttered, swiping his hand across his brow.

"Exactly what I thought, pathetic coward, just try to weasel your way out of justice. You need to just turn yourself in!"

Kurt felt his blood run cold. "No. No way, there must be something else, something-"

Blaine looked grimly determined.

"Blaine no, no you can't."

"I might have to."

"No."

"As a last resort," Blaine said, face bleak.

"Well," Wes hiccuped from where he was still hunched at the table, "if its only as a last resort, I think we're going to have to make a pretty damn near fool proof plan to avoid it."

AN: Again, shame faced apologies about the delay. If you've somehow managed to stick around, we are almost to the end!


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